VanStalker
by DarkBlade the Damned
Summary: This is a crossover of Vandread and the DeathStalker novels by Simon R Green. Chapter 9. Tensions amongst the crew reach boiling point causing Hibiki and Tam to flee the Nirvana.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Deathstalker.  
  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
Vanstalker:  
  
This is a cross over between the anime series Vandread and the Deathstalker series of Novels written by Simon R Green.  
  
Quite a lot of people will be familiar with Vandread, fewer will be familiar with the Novels written by Simon R Green.  
  
For those who may be interested the series revolves around the main character Owen Deathstalker.  
  
The series is set in the distant future where humanity has established a mighty empire in the stars. A feudal empire that is ruled with an iron fist.  
  
The empire is ruled by the empress Lionstone the XXIV. Worshiped and adored, also know as the Iron Bitch.   
  
Her rule is absolute and those that speak out against or displease her tend to have messy and fatal accidents.  
  
Below Lionstone stand the Lords. The ruling families, incredibly wealthy and powerful they exist above the law and control worlds.   
  
Built on the blood of clone slave labour and the power of Espers, (humans with psychic abilities who are treated as property), enforced by the might of the Imperial fleet and the Church of Christ the Warrior the Empire is the most glorious and terrible civilisation in humanities history.  
  
But it is rotting from within. In their Ivory towers the powerful families plot and scheme to win the throne. Under the streets and in the shadows the clone and esper undergrounds plot to overthrow the current order and win their freedom.  
  
And on the edges of the Empire the rogue AI's of Shub and vicious alien races threaten to destroy all that humanity has built.  
  
The Empire is a tinderbox waiting to explode.  
  
Owen Deathstalker last of his line is a quiet man. Descendent of a proud warrior family, Owen prefers to spend his time as historian on his family's world of Virimode.  
  
When the empress Lionstone outlaws Owen his life changes forever. Desperate to escape capture he and a band of unlikely companions make their way to the legendary world of Haden. And there they pass through the Madness Maze. An artefact leftover by an ancient and incredibly powerful alien civilisation.  
  
Those that pass through it are changed forever becoming far more than they once were. And the empress has made a terrible mistake. By outlawing Owen Deathstalker she has awakened a lust for vengeance in a quiet man, and unleashed the power of a name that is legend. Now the rebels and the traitors, the downtrodden and the abused, the espers and the clones all have someone to follow, someone to lead the Deathstalker Rebellion. And then the Killing begins.   
  
This is a kind of quick summary of the main plot behind the Deathstalker series by Simon R Green. I recommend it to all people that enjoy grand space opera, but a warning. Mr Green does not hold back at describing scenes that are incredibly violent, gruesome sometimes disgusting, while at the same maintaining a tongue in cheek humour that can bring tears to the eyes.  
  
And now the VanStalker Prologue  
  
Prologue:  
  
Pain flooded his senses, drowning out all else.   
  
It only served to focus him further.  
  
He was weak, weaker than he could remember being in a long time.  
  
His body was a wreck, bruised and battered. He had taken wounds that would have killed a human a hundred times over. But he had not been human for a long time.   
  
He was dying. He could feel it. His strength was slowly draining out of him. Once it was gone he would no longer be able to hold against his enemy.  
  
But that did not matter.   
  
He was close now, so close to his goal. The closer he came the more the pain increased, but that mattered not at all.  
  
He flew straight and true at his enemy, like an Arrow to its target, like a Phoenix into a sun.  
  
Suddenly he was there. Inside his enemy. It screamed its hatred at him, trying to bring all its formidable strength and power to bear, to kill this being that dared threaten its life.  
  
And its power was formidable.  
  
Abominations, nightmares given form struck at him. Products of the diseased mind of his enemy they were dark and terrible, full of sharp teeth and tearing claws.  
  
There were many of them and he was weak.  
  
But not that weak.  
  
He struck out at them with his power, like a lion against a horde of Rats.  
  
Even weakened they could not take him easily and each of his blows sent a score back to the dark hell from whence they had come.  
  
Slowly, step by tortured step he fought his way to the heart of his enemy. The one place it has true shape and form, the place where it was most real.   
  
The place where it could die.  
  
As he approached his goal it taunted him. It spoke of his failure, of how many of his friends had died for him to reach this spot. Of his own weakness, for if he had only been stronger, faster, better then so many would not have died.  
  
He ignored it.  
  
The enemy brought images from his past to plague him. Times of weakness, times of hate. Times when he remembered hating himself, times when he had failed.  
  
He remembered those times, they as well as the good had shaped him into what he now was, like the different strokes of a hammer on a sword at the forge.  
  
And while those memories were unpleasant, now they only served to strengthen his resolve to remind him of what he had already overcome, and what he had yet to do.  
  
Finally it brought visions of the future. All of his wishes, his plans his dreams.  
  
His many regrets of what he had not been able to do.  
  
"Leave now" it whispered in a voice that was not a voice.  
  
"I will let you go. Leave, know life, know peace, know love. I swear that neither I nor my kind will seek to harm you as long as you live"  
  
It sensed his indecision, his sudden hesitation as he contemplated the offer and it that moment it struck. Drawing its mental strength it lashed out at him with its core power. The essence of its being distilled by hate and rage into a weapon that could crush worlds.   
  
The enemy crowed its triumph. Nothing could have survived that blast.  
  
In its dark and tortured mind it laughed at the folly of these upstart beings, these maggots that dared to oppose it. Surprisingly powerful, they had caused its race the first losses they had suffered in millions of years, but fundamentally they were still weak and that meant that as always its kind would triumph.  
  
The enemy sat there laughing at the folly of its foe, full of its own pride and arrogance. And in that moment he struck.   
  
His indecision had been a feint to draw its attack. When it came he had been able to avoid the worst of the blast. But not all of it.  
  
He was dying now, his body had been shattered by the blast, and he did not have the strength to maintain it. But it was no longer necessary.  
  
Gathering all his remaining strength, derived in a lifetime of hard training, combat and discipline he struck at his enemy. His very essence, all that he was and had ever been he formed now into a weapon. A weapon with one purpose. To kill his enemy.  
  
It screamed a howl of agony whose power was such that it could have killed lesser beings.   
  
It raged against him trying to find some way to save itself, to go on, to survive.  
  
But there was no escape. By opening itself, by using the power of its very essence, it had left itself open, vulnerable. He pored himself through the gap it had left, like an assassins dagger finding a chink in a targets armour.  
  
And finally he stood there in what would be considered the beating heart of his enemy.  
  
It was a place out of space, out of time, it existed in multiple dimensions and in none.  
  
He stood in that place and gathered himself for the final step of his journey.  
  
His enemy railed at him. Threatening, begging, pleading, as it desperately tried to convince him to stop. It was all it could now do. This terrible being, this blight upon creation which in its time had fed on worlds and brought death to suns was now powerless to stop him. He was in its heart, it could no more touch him, then he could have ripped out his own heart and survived, had he still been human.  
  
In his last breaths, he looked back and reflected on his life and thought that it had been good. As with any life there were moments of happiness and sadness, joy and sorrow, pride and disappointment. But at the end he was satisfied, and would not have had it any other way. His body was a ragged mess barely recognisable as human.   
  
His soul was also bruised and battered, but not broken.  
  
As he gathered himself for the last time he never questioned what he was about to do. Too many had died so that he could stand here now, too many more would die if he did not complete this task. A task that he had taken up willingly, a duty he now happily fulfilled. In his final moments he smiled within himself, for the enemy had no concept of self sacrifice, of duty, of honour, of love. And because of that eventually, humanity and its allies would triumph. He regretted that he would not see that day, but he was glad that with his last breath he would hasten its coming.  
  
And then it was time. With a final command he released the power he had gathered holding nothing back. In the black heart of the enemy, a place of pure darkness it was like the birth of a new sun. The power and light of his soul, released it a great explosion reached the walls of his enemy's heart and burst them asunder.  
  
Light flowed over the blackness, bursting it into nothing. Rendering it void.  
  
The light flowed everywhere across all the many dimensions that the enemy occupied and where it found its foe it annihilated it.   
  
In the material world, a heaving black mass hovered over a star .   
  
The size of a planet it pulsed and heaved, following patterns and designs that made no sense and brought only madness.   
  
Suddenly its sides burst and tore, raw light pouring from burst fronds of black matter. Explosions continued to rippled across the vast bulk of the monstrosity, shredding it as spears of raw light burst from its centre ripping away vast chunks of its rotten black flesh.   
  
And then finally with a great implosion, the bulk of the creature was sucked back in upon itself. When the whirlpool of power ended there was nothing left of the black creature. Nothing physical. But forever after, for those with the ability to feel it, a psychic scream would be embedded upon that sector of space.  
  
The death scream of a great and terrible being that for millions of years had wandered the universe like a predator in its feeding ground.  
  
And above that terrible sound, like the clear ringing of a trumpet, the victory cry of the man that had refused to be its prey.  
  
He sensed, nothing. He had no body, he almost had no soul. The very power of his existence had gone to kill his enemy. Now all that was left of him was fading into the darkness. A darkness that was somehow comforting. Like a mothers womb.  
  
A place of possibilities and new beginnings. Gratefully he let himself fade, feeling the care and burdens he had born lighten and drop away. Feeling the pregnant promise of a new beginning and a new turning of the wheel.  
  
But suddenly there was light.  
  
It lit up the comfort of the darkness, bright and shining and cold. He felt the strands of himself return and reform. As they did memories, feelings and burdens returned.   
  
The first was anger. Anger that he was pulled from the embrace of the void. Anger that he was robbed of his new beginning . Anger that he was denied his rest.  
  
With his newly refocused self he screamed a question at the light with all of his being.  
  
WHY!!!!!  
  
An answer flowed back to him. He felt the power in the answer. He knew it could crush him like a falling mountain could crush an ant. But the touch was warm and firm, like a hand on his shoulder, steadying and lending strength. And with the touch the answer came to him.  
  
Duty  
  
The entity who had been a man gave the equivalent of a sigh with his whole being. But he did not argue. Even diminished as he was in this form he knew what he was, and that meant duty was engraved on his soul.  
  
He allowed himself the luxury of another sigh before turning away from the void and making his way to the light.  
  
…………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Parfet grumbled under her breath as she studied the area around her. She stood on the floor of the Plexis chamber. The floor stretched out around her for hundred of meters as she stood on the bottom of the spherical shaped chamber, Above her she could see the great cyan blue crystal bulk of the plexis.  
  
Parfet sighed again "Plexis what are you up to now?"  
  
For the last day the plexis had been acting strangely. After the initial battle with the robot cubes the newly reformed pirate/colonisation ship had been making its way towards what everyone's best guess was the Tarak and Mejeri system.  
  
No one from the system had left in living memory so only the captain Magno, had even the least idea about interstellar travel. That was not really much help as Mango had been a child at the time and remembered very little that was useful.  
  
Fortunately the ship appeared to have a very detailed set of star charts, assuming that they could be relied upon. So the crew had a rough idea about how to get back to their home. Unfortunately it was a long way away, across several unknown and possibly hostile systems.  
  
At least the ship was fast. It appeared to have a very powerful set of sublight engines and the ability to make jumps from one system to another nearly instantaneously.  
  
The ability was limited to a few hundred light years and needed time to recharge after each jump, but it still meant that by their best estimates they were only months not years away from their home system.  
  
Still it would be a long voyage and Parfet was still not comfortable with the technology of the ship. She was the chief engineer, responsible for keeping the ship running, but how could she do that when she didn't even understand most of the systems.  
  
Hence this exercise, for the past day the Plexis had been pulsing. Sudden power surges had gone through the ship. They hadn't impaired operations in any way but they appeared to be getting closer. Parfet had been meaning to explore the mysterious energy source anyway so now seemed a good time.  
  
"Parfet anything to report"  
  
"No sub commander, we still don't have any indications on what could be causing the plexis to behave the way it is."   
  
"Very well continue, but keep me informed of any changes"   
  
"Yes sub commander"  
  
Parfet sighed again, any changes, if I could just figure out what the plexis was doing.  
  
Wham!!   
  
A thud seemed to shake the entire ship, throwing Parfet and her crew to the floor of the chamber, scattering their tools over the floor.  
  
"Parfet, the Plexis pulses are getting closer together they're approaching peak!!!"BC  
  
"What do we do" yelled one of the techs  
  
"Umm, Ahhh" Parfet stared up at the Plexis, the pulses were coming closer and closer together, cyan flashes bathed the chamber in Blue light.  
  
The pulses came closer and closer together until they seemed to be one constant blaze of light.  
  
Parfet was still trying to work out what was happening, when suddenly there was a blinding flash of Cyan light, and then everything went still.  
  
On the bridge BC reviewed her monitors. "All stations report"   
  
"Bridge operations all functioning" Ezra  
  
"Dread bay all systems functioning"Meia  
  
"Register we're all fine down here"Gascone  
  
" Cafeteria, some food got spilled but that's all, I'll clean it up: Dita  
  
"Engineering, everthings back to normal, the plexis has stopped pulsing.  
  
  
  
"Well captain it appears that everthings back to normal"  
  
"Indeed, but what was that all about, has Parfet had any results yet?"  
  
"Checking now"  
  
"Parfet"  
  
"Here subcommander, we got some really weird energy readings from that last pulse. It looks similar to when the ship's merged and we were transported out here."  
  
"You mean the plexis was trying transport us again?"  
  
"I don't think so commander, the energy patters are different, much more localised and stronger."  
  
"I see"  
  
"What about your team Parfet are you all right down there"  
  
"Yes were all fi" A piercing scream drowned out the last of Parfets response.  
  
Parfet whirled around looking for the source of the noise".  
  
One of her technicians was crouched on the floor one hand covering her now silent mouth. The other was pointing with a trembling hand at the centre of the chamber.  
  
There lying curled in a foetal ball in the centre of the chamber was a body. From where she stood parfet could clearly see the face, and from her recent encounters with Duero she recognised that it was clearly a man.  
  
"Well, that's interesting".  
  
End……  
  
Comments and reviews are welcomed. Please send to darkblade101@westnet.com.au 


	2. VanStalker Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
Vanstalker: Part 1)  
  
"Where the hell did he come from?"  
  
BC the subcommander of the Nirvanda stared down at the man lying on the sick bay table. He was tall, although not  
  
as tall as Duero and lacked the doctor's waist length hair. His own hair was cut short, the back and sides of his  
  
head were little more than fuzz with only a fringe above his forehead. His body was also thicker than the doctor's  
  
slender frame, with thick well defined muscles on his torso, arms and thighs. His body, naked when it first   
  
appeared, was now covered by a hospital sheet.Duero the now acknowledged doctor of the Nirvanda was consulting his medical instruments to determine the health of his new patient and also to try and find any clue as to where he may have come from.  
  
Also in the room were Bart and Hibiki who had been intrigued by the new male presence on the ship, Dita who was never far from Hibiki's side.  
  
Magno the ships captain, Meia the leader of the Dread squadrons, and Parfait who was desperately trying to think of a logical explanation for the completely illogical situation they found themselves in.  
  
"I, I don't know sub commander. We've only just begun to analyse the data we gathered while the pexis was pulsing."  
  
Magno smiled over at the engineer "Just give me your best guess for now Parfait"  
  
"Well the only similar readings we have ever had were when the Pexis transported us away from the Mejere system during the Torpedo attack. But this is different"  
  
"Different, how?"  
  
"The energy used was on a completely different scale and there was no wormhole, no rip in space and time to indicate where he came from."  
  
"Meaning"  
  
Parfait sighed "Meaning the only explanation I can think of is that he was somehow transported here from somewhere outside space and time" Parfait bent over as she said this as though apologising for the absurdity of the comment she had just made.  
  
But the others only turned around to stare once again at the person who had so suddenly joined them.  
  
"From outside space and time, murmured Magno throughtfully.  
  
"So he's an Alien!" Dita exclaimed as she bounced forward to take a closer look at the newcomer.  
  
The gathered crew blinked in surprise at this comment from the irrepressible alien obsessed redhead. BC opened her mouth to retort then stopped and looked thoughtful.  
  
"What do you think doctor, is he an Alien?"  
  
Duero looked up from instruments." As far as I can determine subcommander he is completely human".  
  
"What about your examination, have you found out anything unusual".  
  
Duero turned back to his instruments. "The subject appears to be in his mid twenties, his body is in perfect physical condition and I have been unable to find any deviations from the norm."  
  
"So nothing unusual then"  
  
"On the contrary that in itself is unusual"  
  
The assembled crew turned to stare at Duero in puzzlement.  
  
The doctor sighed before turning to his instruments to explain.   
  
"If you look at the physical records of any other member of the crew there are always a number of small deviations from the base. Old injuries incurred during their lives, impacts from past diseases, dental records, even the environment in which we live leaves an impact on the human body. For example Hibiki and I have skins that have been tanned from living under the sun of Tarak. This newcomer has nothing. No indication of where he may have come from. Its as if he were a fully grown new born"  
  
The crew once again collectively turned to stare at their guest.  
  
"So what does that mean? The plexis gave birth to him?"  
  
Everyone turned to stare at Dita. Under the focused scrutiny the irrepressible redhead seemed to wilt a little. Attention was soon diverted however as a low groan came from the object of their curiosity.  
  
Almost as one the crew turned around. The stranger was still lying flat on the hospital bed, but now held one of his arms to his head. A further groan followed.  
  
Duero immediately got up and started to move towards the stranger but Magno held up her hand, indicating that he and the other crew should stay back. She and BC moved forward to stand over their guest.  
  
"Well so how are you feeling?"  
  
At Magno's question the stranger ceased to hold his head. Instead the hand came up to shield his eyes from the light and his head turned to stare at Magnos face. Magno stared down at the brown eyes that stared up at her. The stare was level and impassive. There was no trace of fear, anxiety or even curiosity in that gaze.  
  
Over a lifetime of experience Magno had grown very good at reading peoples gazes.   
  
She remembered how she had read the anger that just covered the fear in Hibikis gaze when they first met. Usually she could tell a lot about a person by the way they looked at her. But these eyes gave away nothing. She was about to repeat her question when suddenly the stranger spoke.  
  
"Fine thank you."  
  
The voice was low and soft, but it was also well spoken. Magno had been worried that Dita might be correct and they might be dealing with a fully grown newborn who would have to learn how to communicate for the first time. But this did not appear to be the case.   
  
"So do you have a name?"   
  
The stranger's eyes narrowed slightly as if concentrating on something, then the response came back quicker than the first time.  
  
"Tamorasp".  
  
"Tamorasp," Magno tested the sound of the unfamiliar name.   
  
"So Tamorasp, do you mind telling me how you got here and what you are doing here?"  
  
"Where is here?" This time the response came faster, but the question was still phrased evenly and respectfully. Odd, there was none of the anxiety or curiosity that Magno would have expected of a man waking up in a strange place, or a woman for that matter.  
  
"You're are in the sick bay of the Nirvanda my ship"  
  
"Ship? What kind of ship?" Again the question was respectfully phrased with no clues as to how the new arrival was thinking. Mango decided to change tack to try and get a little more information from their new arrival.  
  
"What kinds of ships are you familiar with?"  
  
"Well the origin of the word relates to vessels which travel on the surface of water or underneath it for that matter. But it's generally used to describe any kind of fully contained vessel that travels over, sea, land air or… space." The pause at then end seemed significant as if he had come to some kind of conclusion as he spoke the words.  
  
Mango could practically feel the curiosity of the crew behind her but se raised a hand to quieten them. Meanwhile her mind was working frantically. All children of both Tarak and Mejere were raised with the knowledge that the only ships that existed were spaceships. Tarak had no large bodies of water, neither did the largely space based habitats of Mejere, only the first generation of both worlds could have been aware of the origin of the word, or of its old meaning.   
  
"Pardon me" Magno jerked herself out of her reverie. This was the first time Tamorasp had initiated a conversation.  
  
"Could I ask your name?" Once again Magno was surprised, the polite and courteous way Tamorasp was behaving was completely at odds with the behaviour of their current guests from Tarak the first time she had met them.  
  
"Magno Vivian, captain of this ship, and you still haven't answered my question."  
  
"Captain". Tamorasp responded straitening slightly his tone becoming even more respectful. Interesting thought Magno he has an automatic respect for authority and he dosen't even question the fact that a woman, and one of my age would be the captain of a ship.  
  
"Yes, I'm sorry, but I don't have any further answers to give you. I don't really know where here is. As for how I got here, I have no idea."  
  
"What about who you are or where you came from?"  
  
Tamorasp's gaze turned from Magno to stare at the ceiling above her. His eyes darted as if he was thinking rapidly and for the first time there was an expression of slight confusion or frustration on his face. "I'm sorry, I don't remember anything else"  
  
"You don't remember!!" This shout came from Meia who was starting to lose patience with the whole affair.  
  
Tamorasp's eyes jerked from the ceiling and he sat up slightly to stare for the first time at the other occupants of the room.   
  
He spent a moment or two staring and Magno thought that she could see brief flickers of surprise cross his face as he inspected some of the crew, but these were always quickly suppressed.  
  
"No I'm sorry I don't."  
  
"You expect us to believe that you have no idea who you are, where you came from or how you got here?"  
  
"No I know that my name is Tamorasp. Apart from that I'm sorry but I don't remember anything else."  
  
Meia appeared to be about to respond with another retort when a gesture from Magno quietened her.  
  
"What is the last thing you remember Tamorasp?"  
  
He saw quietly for a second staring at nothing as if he was trying to deal with a complicated problem in his mind.  
  
"Darkness, then light". The simplicity of the words would have made anyone scoff. Except from the tone in which they were said. There was a deep meaning attached to those words, concepts that the human mind could barely perceive expressed only in the most flawed way through the only medium available. Somehow it was enough to quieten further questions from the crew even from Meia.  
  
After a time Duero spoke. "Captain I, think that should be all for now, the patient needs to rest after… well after whatever he has been through."  
  
"Yes I agree, we'll leave him in your care for the moment Duero, but have him sent up to the meeting room as soon as you are finished.  
  
"Right, that means everyone except medical personnel please clear the sick bay."  
  
The rest of the crew filed out. BC, Meia and Parfait turning to follow Magno, Bart back to his quarters, and Hibiki desperately anywhere else as he was followed by a familiar call of "Mr Aliennn!"  
  
Location: Meeting room behind the bridge.  
  
"So what did you all think of our new arrival" Asked Magno  
  
Seated with her around the table were the heads of the other sections. BC, Meia, Parfet and Gascogne.  
  
"I don't trust him. How can he expect us to believe he has no idea how he got here or where he came from! Even for a man that's stupid. As for the way he was behaving that oh so respectful tone, he's just trying to get you to believe him captain." Meia voice was more animated than her usual cool tone. She knew that she wasn't behaving professionally but she couldn't help it. Something about the new arrival was affecting her. She didn't know what it was but she didn't like it.   
  
Magno was faintly surprised by the heat in Meia's usually emotionless voice, but it wasn't unexpected. The crew had had to put up with a lot in the last couple of weeks. After being transported far from home, encountering a previously unknown enemy and having to get used to the concept of sharing the ship with three of their lifelong enemies. The arrival of a fourth under such unexplained circumstances was likely to set tempers flaring.   
  
"What did you make of him Captain?" Asked BC disturbing Magno's train of thought.  
  
"Well he was certainly odd. And I don't just mean the way in which he arrived. All the time he was looking at me very little of his reactions showed on his face. That means that he's either very skilled at hiding his reactions or he's calmest individual I've ever met. As for his behaviour, well his manners are definitely an improvement on the others, except perhaps for Duero."  
  
"So what are we going to do with him?"  
  
" Well as to that I'think we'll determine that after our next meeting, speaking of which."   
  
"Captain, we have the new arrival here to see you" spoke a voice through the ships intercom."  
  
" Ahhh, good timing, bring him in."   
  
The doors to the briefing room opened and their new arrival walked in escorted by two members of the Nirvada's security detail.   
  
The four senior members of the crew seated at the table turned to stare.  
  
Although the had not yet been time to search all of the areas of the ship Durno had found a stash of men's clothing o one of the levels that had previously been part of the Ikazuchi. Tamorasp was now dressed it a tight fitting set of Kahki overalls and a pair of black work boots.   
  
As he entered he looked at each of the rooms occupants giving them each a brief nod of greeting in turn before settling on Magno.  
  
"Captain" he a said politely, "you wanted to see me?"  
  
"Yes young man, sit down"  
  
Tamorasp selected a chair directly in front of Magno's own and settled into it. He sat straight, his arms flat on the table in front of him.  
  
He stared straight at Magno at polite attention.   
  
"Well, well now what are we going to do with you?"  
  
Tamorasp made no reply   
  
"What no answer?"  
  
"I apologise captain, I assumed that you were making a rhetorical question"  
  
Magno started slightly, as the others tensed slightly at what they assumed was an insult. "Well I was not young man, so tell me what are we to do with you?"  
  
"Whatever you feel it is in your power to do." Again that maddeningly calm tone from their new arrival. His voice sounded almost disinterested.  
  
"Well perhaps you could tell me what you expect me to do with you then."  
  
"Put me to work, keep me imprisoned, or try to kill me." Everyone in the room tensed further at those words. The entire sentence had been spoken in that familiar calm tone, but the final words had contained just the hint of a challenge as if he felt they could try but were uncertain to succeed.  
  
"Again would you mind explaining that statement?"  
  
Tamorasp nodded to Magno.  
  
"Certainly, a ship is like a self contained world, which depends on everyone inside it to continue. Those that do not serve a purpose are at best a drain on resources, at worst a liability. Therefore if I am to remain on this ship I must serve a purpose.  
  
As for my second option I have arrived here without warning from an unknown place. That unknown factor makes me a potential risk, as captain you have a duty to preserve the welfare of your crew, which you may see as best being done by keeping me confined until such time as you can release me, or the third option if you feel I represent too much of a risk you can try and kill me."  
  
Magno was shocked. She could not fault his logic, but that was all it was, logic. Cold hard and unfeeling. There did not appear to be any trace or expectation of human reasoning or emotion behind that statement.  
  
"You always say try, but you sit there guarded and unarmed on our ship. You seem very sure of yourself."  
  
Tamorasp stared her directly in the eyes and grinned tightly showing his teeth.  
  
"When one dances, the outcome is always unwritten." The words were oddly formal, as if he was quoting something. Magno was about to ask him about that except that as soon as the words were out of his mouth his expression changed. A look of confusion passed over his face as if he was wondering what he had just said.   
  
Magno could feel the tension in the room. Tamorasp was still sitting there slightly confused. But the two guards, Meia BC and Gascone were all tensed and ready to act, Parfait was looking worried.  
  
"Alright then we'll take option one"  
  
Everyone in the room turned to look at her in surprise.  
  
"Since you are now effectively a passenger on this ship, we will expect you to work for your passage. When we reach our destination you will be free to go."  
  
Tamorasp was now staring at her intently. "When will you reach your home system?"  
  
"We do not know. An accident transported us to this part of the galaxy, we are not certain of how long it will take to get back to our home system, possibly several months."  
  
"There are no closer populated systems where you could drop me?"  
  
" We don't know, this is uncharted space for us, but if we do find other Human settlements out here, you will be free to leave if you choose."  
  
"Thank you." Tamorasp nodded his head graciously at her offer.  
  
" Do you have any other questions?"  
  
Tamorasp stared at her for several seconds before replying. Magno found the stare unnerving; it felt like he was trying to look inside her. Over a long life very few people had ever stared at her like that.  
  
"What kind of ship is this?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"There appear to be too many people here for a freighter, but too few for a colony ship, and this ship does not appear to be a military vessel"  
  
"What do you mean does not appear to be a military vessel! What do you claim to know about it?" Meia suddenly burst out angrily. She had been gradually growing more and more infuriated as the exchange. The male had started out respectfully but then those smug you can try to kill me comments had show he was just like that hot headed boy and that cowardly helmsman. A typical male.  
  
She was about to give him a piece of her mind when he turned to her suddenly and replied, as if her question had been the most ordinary thing in the world.   
  
"The environment on this ship, the décor, the way you all dress it all suggests a comfortable living environment. On the walk here I noticed very few internal bulkheads, no signs of additional power plants and very few guards. Warships are very rarely pleasant. They are usually purely functional and require multiple internal bulkheads and power sources in order to take damage and yet continue fighting. Finally there is always a sense of purpose and tension on warship, that feeling is missing here. Here there is anxiety, worry, and a little fear."  
  
As soon as he stared at her Meia had been trapped by those eyes. They stared at her directly and frankly, completely open, completely sincere. She did not doubt that this male believed in what he was saying, but where did he get that knowledge from?  
  
But then the moment passed and Tamorasp looked away, but now there was an expression on his face. Confusion and a little fear. How did I know that? I feel the truth in the words I just spoke but where does that knowledge come from. Why does it feel so familiar, and why does that familiarity fill me with excitement. And Terror.  
  
"You have no Idea where that just came from do you" Magno looked at him with a speculative look on her face.  
  
"No I don't." He felt compelled to add more.  
  
"The words feel right but I have no idea where they come from."  
  
"Well young man it appears that some of your memories may be returning. Don't worry I am sure it will come in time.  
  
Meia, BC and gascone looked about to press him further but Magno silenced them.  
  
"And we will give you the time for them to return." She said significantly, the other three subsided under her gaze, unwilling to question their captain before a stranger.  
  
"Now to answer your question, this is a Pirate ship, we are pirates."  
  
Magno noticed the sudden tension in Tamorsaps posture, the alertness.  
  
"Will that be a problem for you?"  
  
Tamorasp looked at her significantly for a few seconds before responding.  
  
"No, but I will not help you rob or hurt other people."  
  
"But you are willing to work on the ship and help us salvage?"  
  
"Yes and help defend the ship if we are attacked."  
  
"Whether we are willing to let you do that remains to be seen. Now any further questions?"  
  
Tamorasp sat quietly for a moment as if nervous.  
  
"So far almost everyone I have seen on this ship have been Women, why is that?"  
  
"This is a female ship. The three males you saw earlier are captives from the Tarak Empire. We captured them when we seized this ship. They have agreed to help serve as member of the crew until we return to our home system"  
  
"Where are you from?"  
  
"The women's world of Mejere."  
  
"So everyone from Tarak is male and everyone from Mejere is female? And your two worlds are at war?"   
  
'Yes, you seem surprised by this."  
  
"I don't know for some reason that just seems strange."  
  
Magno stared at the man for a moment. He was clearly confused as if the situation puzzled him, but he could not apparently say why. She shook herself and continued  
  
Now as you have no memory of what you do and do not know I will arrange for you to work shifts in the various areas of the ship so that we can determine where best to put you. In the meantime you can return to the men's quarters.  
  
"Thank you captain". Taking this for the dismissal it was he stood up and nodded to Magno and the others present before once again following the guards out of the room.  
  
Magno did not have to wait long for the explosion.  
  
Meia: "Captain how can you let that man speak to you like that."  
  
BC: "Captain I must protest this action, the man is an unknown and possibly dangerous."  
  
Gascogne: "Boss are you sure about this?"  
  
Magno: "Enough. I haven't gone senile just yet. I know that this appears a little strange but we have already taken in the other three men as part of our crew, so what's one more?  
  
Secondly, you are right this man is an unknown, we do not know who he is or what he is capable of. So rather that leave him alone and unwatched we will put him where he can be observed and we can learn more about his capabilities.  
  
BC take the guards off him when he starts work, but keep them within call. If anything happens I want them to be able to be there in an instant.  
  
Gasgone, set up a roster, I want to put him to work in the register, engineering, maintenance and refuse during this week."  
  
The section heads sat back and nodded. They still didn't necessarily like the plan but they saw its merits.  
  
"One last thing, give him an opportunity to show what he can do. Try him out on everything except the security and Dread operations."  
  
Magno saw the unspoken question on their faces.  
  
"Consider something, you were all there when we first met this man. You saw how he acted then. Did any of you notice how he acted just now?"  
  
Parfait nodded her head "He seemed more alert, more aware and more knowledgeable than when he first woke up."  
  
"Exactly, however he got here the experience seems to have affected his memory. Just as obviously parts of that memory are now starting to return.  
  
I am not a great believer in coincidence. I am certain that man is here for a reason, and that means that we may need him for something. We had better find out what he can do before that happens."  
  
……………………………………………………  
  
In the men's quarters Hibiki and Duero were not paying attention to Bart rant.  
  
Despite the relatively small amount of time they had spent together since the ship became stranded in this section of space both the third class citizen and the doctor had become very familiar with one of the attributes of the scion of the Garsus family. The was when Bart started talking there was nothing short of the threat of physical violence (which Hibiki had needed to be physically restrained by Durero from attempting) that would stop him. So like the inhabitants of Tarak when one of the great dust storms swept through, they had simply adapted a way of passing the time until the wind blew itself out.  
  
Dureo was busy studying the few books he had been able to find on female medicine and anatomy. The Tarak military academy where he had learned his trade had never even considered the possibility that a male doctor would find himself in a position of treating female patients. Female captives would find themselves in the hands of a rather different department. One which Duero had no interest in. But the books he was studying did interest him greatly and he was shocked at the differences that he read, but even more surprised by the similarities.  
  
Hibiki meanwhile was deeply engrossed in a manual on the operation and maintenance of Vanguards. He had found the manual while searching through one of the maintenance sections of the former Ikazuchi. Dita had finally been called away by Jura for Dread practise and Hibiki was enjoying the respite, the dull drone of Bart now having faded into the background. His attention was suddenly diverted as he noticed two that two of the female guards had returned with their new arrival in tow.  
  
"And further more I take this new mans arrival to be absolute proof that our lord the all powerful Grand Pa has not forsaken us and that we will……" Barts rant finally trailed off as he realised that the new arrival had reappeared.  
  
Tamorasp turned to the guards and nodded to them cordially before making his way into the cell and taking a place on the vacant bunk.  
  
The two female guards stared at him suspiciously for a moment before shrugging and turning away. They did not trust the new arrival, but their orders had been only to return him to his cell.  
  
Once he had seated himself Tamorasp turned at nodded to Duero who had now put down the book he was reading. "Doctor, good to see you again, I'm sorry but I haven't had a chance to meet our other cellmates."  
  
Bart immediately put himself forward and struck a pose "I am Bart Garsus, heir of the proud Garsus family and ranking office aboard!" Tamorasp stared at the youth for a minute seemingly impassive. Inside he was engaged in a titanic struggle to control his features. This kid, he obviously believed in everything he said and he was just as obviously completely clueless. Nevertheless appearances had to be maintained and you never knew his impression could be mistaken, unlikely as that presently seemed.   
  
Impassively he held out his hand.  
  
"Tamorasp, pleased to meet you Bart Garsus."  
  
Bart seemed a little confused by the offer of the hand. On Tarak that was a greeting reserved between equals and this newcomers status had not yet been determined. Then he seemed to rally and returned the handshake with a forced smile on his face.  
  
The shake was brief and limp, Tamorasp's estimation of Bart, not to high to begin with dropped several rungs lower.  
  
"Now that the formalities are over tell us the plan."  
  
Tamorasp stared at Bart nonplussed.  
  
"I'm sorry?"  
  
"Oh there's no further need to continue the act my friend. It was a very clever tactic to pretend that you had lost your memory to convince the Women to keep you on board. Now what is the plan to retake the ship? I am ready to assist you, a Garsus is always prepared to do his duty for the empire and Lord Grandpa."  
  
Tamorasp stared at Bart for a few moments and despite his best efforts a trace of the incredulity he was feeling appeared on his face. Surely this man could not be as clueless as he was pretending to be, there was no way that a military officer could possibly…Tamorasp started at Bart an the others again and for the first time he realised that they were young, very young. Damn me but they cannot be more than 18 years old, and the youngest looks considerably less. What the hell kind of society sends their kids out to fight wars.  
  
"I think I need to correct a misconception of yours Bart but I'm afraid that you are mistaken."   
  
Bart who had been about to burst into another patriotic speech paused and looked confused  
  
"What..what do you mean?"  
  
"I am not necessarily on your side. I don't know where I am from, but I am fairly certain that it is not from Tarak. And I have no interest in helping you take control of this ship."  
  
Bart by now was staring goggle eyed at the new arrival, his cherished day dreams of the past few hours now completely shattered  
  
"But.. But then who are you and why are you here?"  
  
Tamorasp leaned back on the bench and stretched linking his arms behind his head.  
  
" As for who I am that's something that I would like to know myself, as to why I am here I have no idea, but at least for the moment I am a passenger on this ship and I intend to act like one."  
  
This comment shocked Bart into silence, which prompted Duero who had been listening to the conversation interject.  
  
"Then Tamorasp.."  
  
"Tam"  
  
"I'm sorry" Duero said caught unaware by the interruption.  
  
"Call me Tam. Tamorasp is the full version of my name, it's rarely used except for formal occasions. Besides Tam is easier to say."  
  
"Alright then Tam, can I ask you then what you do intend to do since you are on this ship with us?  
  
Tamorasp (hence forth Tam) sat up and turned around.  
  
"The Captain has offered me passage on this ship until we reach another inhabited system. Until that time I'm going to work for my passage.'  
  
"Work how?"  
  
"Whatever tasks they set me"  
  
"You are just going to take orders from the women!" Bart had by this time recovered from his shock.  
  
Tam turned back to stare at him and raised an eyebrow in query.  
  
"This ship appears to be fully in the control of the women. Whom else then should I take orders from?"  
  
"From me you should respect me as an officer in the Tarak Empire and assist me in retaking this ship as is your duty."  
  
Tam looked down and snorted before looking up with a faint expression of amusement on his face.  
  
" Again I believe that you are operating under a misconception Mr Garsus.  
  
One I am not a member of your empire, thus I owe it no loyalty or obligation.  
  
Two your war with the women is no concern of mine.  
  
Three there is no way that I am going to take orders from snot faced cadet barely out of the academy."  
  
Bart flushed and stepped back a look of embarrassment on his face. From his reaction Tam knew that he had hit home. It was the only explanation that fitted.  
  
"So you are not going to fight." The final person in the cell had finally made a contribution to the discussion. Tam turned to look at him. He was even younger than the others, olive skinned and brown eyed. He wore a pair of baggy pants and a bright orange and black top. He stared back at Tam with a fierce look in his eyes.   
  
"I don't think we have been introduced/"  
  
The young man flushed and then looked at Tam again. "Hibiki Tokai, don't bother offering your hand I'm only a third class citizen."   
  
Hibiki turned away again, then looked back in surprise as Tam extended his hand.  
  
"I have no idea what that means, nor do I care. I don't not remember much, but I do remember that it's a common courtesy to offer your hand to a man the first time you meet."  
  
Hibiki looked at Tam suspiciously for a moment unsure if this was a trick. But Tams hand remained extended, unwavering. Finally Hibiki reached back and returned the shake.  
  
The grim was firm and honest. Tam smiled inside as he thought to himself. There is steel in this one, despite his age, but it remains to be seen if there is enough to make a blade.  
  
"To answer your question Hibiki I told the Captain that I would be willing to help defend this ship if it was attacked. But a smart warrior chooses his fights, and I have no reason to fight the women, they are not my enemy."  
  
"So how are you going to help fight the cubes?"  
  
"Who are the cubes?"  
  
Over the next several hours Tam managed to get the entire story out of his cell mates.   
  
The launching of the Ikazuchi. Hibiki's attempt to steal the Vanguard. The attack by the pirates, the strange explosion that had brought them here and fused the ships. And finally the mysterious cubes that had started attacking them.  
  
Despite the initial attempts of Duero and Bart to be circumspect, in time using carefully phrased questions Tam was able to get everything out of them. It wasn't hard really. Deep down they were all young men that had been thrown into a situation that they were having trouble dealing with and they were eager to talk about what they had gone through.  
  
Later that night while the others were asleep Tam lay thinking. Part of his mind wanted to gibber in panic at what he had learned. But this part was ruthlessly suppressed with a discipline that was second nature too him. He was grateful for that discipline even though he had no idea where it came from. Now as he lay awake he sorted his thoughts and what he had heard into logical patterns as he had been taught.  
  
This time he remembered something of his teacher. He had recalled it earlier before his second meeting with Magno but had been reluctant to mention it. He was doubly so now that Hibiki had described the cubes. He had remembered standing in a vast chamber filled with strange machines. The machines had followed shapes and patterns that spoke of pure functionality, with none of the ascetics that marked human machines. Before him stood a robot. It was roughly human shaped, made out of glittering blue steel. Its face was a featureless ovoid. But strangely he had felt a sense of camaraderie, of friendship. The robot had been trying to teach him about logical thinking, how it could be used to solve any problem. He remembered arguing with the   
  
Robot, although he could not remember what about. Now the scene brought a question to his mind. Am I somehow linked with these cubes? Do I know them or even worse, am I one of them.  
  
Pushing the thought out of his mind he focused on what he did know.  
  
He had no idea where he was. He was on board a ship travelling to an unknown star system through unknown space. There was an unknown enemy of unknown strength out there and it was apparently hostile.  
  
The ship was predominantly full of women most of whom were in their teens, who seemed to have only the barest of military knowledge. The only men on the ship was an apparently competent doctor, a spoiled rich boy who served as the helmsman, and an angry young tech thrust into the role of a warrior who's only apparent tactic was to charge at the enemy screaming. Then there was the ships power source, this plexis and the ability of Hibiki's vanguard to link with Ditas dread. He was still unclear about those.  
  
But in summary, he was lost, far from anywhere and surrounded by potential enemies, both outside the ship and on it. Basically he was screwed.  
  
Anyway you looked at it was an impossible situation.  
  
So why, he thought as he smiled before turning to sleep, do I somehow feel right at home?   
  
End of Chapter 1.   
  
Preview Chapter 2.  
  
Barnet is given the job of assigning the new arrival a task in refuse.  
  
She picks the dirtiest job possible.  
  
How will our new arrival bear up?  
  
Authors comments: This chapter may have seemed a little slow, but I wanted to set the scene before progressing further. As for Tamorasp losing his memory, I know its hardly and original plot device but if I had thrown a fully powered DeathStalker into the story it would have been far too boring, the Harvesters would never have stood a chance. This first chapter takes place somewhere between episodes 3 and 4 of the first stage. I intend to follow the story line fairly closely but I will be making changes here and there.  
  
DarkBlade 


	3. VanStalker Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Deathstalker.  
  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
I would like to dedicate this chapter to my first and so far only reviewer DarkJackel.  
  
I was losing enthusiasm for writing but you made me want to finish this chapter and continue with the story.  
  
Vanstalker: Part 2)  
  
In the men's quarters Hibiki slowly made the transition from being deeply asleep to fully awake. Hibiki was still young and quite small for his age. The food pellets of Tarak provided all the necessary nutrients a human body needed to survive but not necessarily to excel, and the pellets that he had received were those issued to third class citizens, not those of the elite who reserved the best for themselves and the soldiers of the space forces. As a result Hibiki like many third class citizens was slightly undersized. The lack of good food and the long hours he was used to working in the factory on Tarak also meant that he was normally a deep sleeper. But this morning a new sound penetrated his sleep fogged brain and hastened its journey to consciousness.   
  
He was by now used to the noises of his other two companions, Barts snoring and mumbling and Duero's quiet breathing but this morning a new sound was present.  
  
"Shhh, Uhhhh"  
  
"Shhh, Uhhhh"  
  
Regular and rhythmic the sound was coming from the hall outside the cell which the men had converted into their quarters.   
  
Now fully awake, Hibiki sat up and yawned. Glancing over he saw that Bart and Duero were still asleep, which meant the noise had to be coming from.   
  
Sure enough the newcomer's cot was empty, although the bed looked freshly made. The sheets almost painfully straight. That was curious. I know I saw him go to sleep last night, so what happened? Did the women come to take him away? Only one way to find out.  
  
It was a curious sight that greeted Hibiki as he exited the cell. Hanging suspended from an overhead pipe in the hallway was Tam. As Hibiki watched he could see that he was performing chin ups, gradually lifting his body towards the pipe using only his forearms and biceps. Tam looked over and saw him and gave a nod of recognition but continued in his exercises. Curious Hibiki continued to watch until he finished and dropped lightly back to the deck.  
  
"Morning."  
  
"Morning yourself. Why were you doing that?"  
  
"Doing what?" Tam replied as he towelled himself off.  
  
"Those exercises, why were you working that hard?"  
  
Tam shrugged and draped the towel over the back of his neck. "It feels right. As soon as I woke up in the morning I felt the need to exercise. As soon as I started I just fell into a pattern."  
  
"But why work so hard first thing in the morning?"   
  
"It's the best time, it gets your blood pumping and keeps your body in shape and increases your ability to think and act."  
  
"That's stupid."  
  
"Actually he's quite right." Duero commented as he made his way out of the cell.   
  
"At the academy morning exercises were part of our daily regime. Most of the Elite also exercise's in the mornings to maintain physical and mental health. I've dropped out of my usual routine since I found myself on this ship, would it be alright if I joined you?  
  
Tam looked over at the doctor with a smile. "Certainly, I've pretty much finished for the day but if you wanted to join me tomorrow?"  
  
"That would be excellent, thank you."  
  
Tam then turned around "Hibiki would you like to join us?"  
  
Hibiki was seething inside. At first he had thought that this newcomer would be someone he could talk to, after that handshake he had thought that he had met someone who would recognise him for what he was rather that just labelling him with the stigmata of a third class citizen. But now hearing him talking with the doctor, seeing the way he was. He'd be damned if he aped the ways of the Elite.  
  
"No thanks I would want to take up any of the rituals that belong to the Elite."  
  
"Exercising is hardly a ritual Hibiki, it's a way to keep fit. Judging from what you've told me you need to stay fit and alert to fight whatever enemy is out there."  
  
" I don't need exercises to fight, as long as I have my Partner I can take on anything" Replied Hibiki Hotly.  
  
"Your partner, oh the machine you were telling me about, the vanguard. That reminds me I've been meaning to ask you would you show it to me?"  
  
"Why" asked the young pilot suspiciously?  
  
"I'm curious and besides from what you have described it sounds impressive"  
  
Hibiki seemed to consider this for a few minutes  
  
"Alright after breakfast." Hibiki then turned and made his way towards the bathroom.  
  
Tam remained beside Duero. "I seem to have struck a nerve."  
  
Duero sighed as he watched Hibiki walk away. "On Tarak we are strictly segregated by our classes. It is very unusual for citizens of different levels to meet. I think he is having trouble determining how he should act here so he uses bravado as a cover for his uncertainty."  
  
"So on Tarak people are born into a class and are expected to work within the boundaries of that class their entire lives? Lovely society you come from Duero." The last words were said scathingly belying their meaning.  
  
Duero glanced over curiously "Your society was different?"  
  
Tam stood there for a while staring at the way Hibiki had gone, "I still don't remember my past, but from the feeling that I get about it. There were different classes, some were more privileged than others. But I also feel that people were able to improve themselves, gain more if they had the skill and the determination to do so. But to be tied into a system unable to change your place only because that was what you had been born to."   
  
Tam lapsed into silence and Duero felt compelled to ask "It must appear very unusual."   
  
Tam turned to him and said softly "No Duero in a distant way it seems very familiar as if part of me remembers something similar. But whenever I try to remember what all I get is a feeling of wrongness, a feeling of… Evil."  
  
Elsewhere on the ship other members of the crew were discussing the newcomer, but the tone was anything but flattering.   
  
"I cannot believe that we have another man on board, at this rate there will be more of them on the ship than we are." Barnette face was flushed as she vented. She had not been able to believe it when the Boss decided to allow the three males to remain on the ship, but she had kept quiet partly out of her respect for the boss, partly because even she could see (although she would never admit it) that each of the three had skills that they would need on the trip home. But now, to have another man appear literally out of thin air, it aggravated her more than she could say. And Barnette was not noted for keeping her opinions to herself. She was about to continue when another voice cut her off.   
  
"I don't think it's that likely that the men are going to start outnumbering us Barnette. We only have them outnumbered about a hundred to one. Or do you think that our crew can't keep control of a measly four men." Gascognue stood in the doorway leaning against the frame, her trademark "toothpick" out at a jaunty angle as she grinned.   
  
Barnette flushed "Gascogne, no I never thought that I just don't like the idea of men running around on the ship."  
  
"Good I'm glad you feel that way. The boss wants to put the new arrival to work on the maintenance and refuse section and I want you to supervise him."  
  
"Me!! But I'm a Dread pilot, I need to train with the squadron, besides why the hell do I have watch over this this MAN!!"  
  
Gascogue smile if anything widened. "First because I told you to, and as I outrank you. That would make it an order. Second because as this is our new guests first assignment and I want someone who can handle themselves to watch over him. And of all the women on this ship I can think of no one better qualified than you. That answer your question?"  
  
Barnette signed with resignation. "Yes maam."  
  
"Good report to Parfet in engineering. She'll give you a list of work areas that are in need of maintenance. Try and give him something challenging. The boss wants to see what he can do."  
  
"When do I have to report to Parfet?"  
  
"Oh now is a good time"  
  
Gascogne watched as Barnette stormed her way out of the cafeteria.  
  
"Are you sure that was wise, Barnette is noted for her strong views towards men. Aren't you taking a chance that she will use this as an opportunity to act on them?"  
  
Gascognue turned to face BC.  
  
"To be honest that's part of the reason that I sent her. That girl has a lot of potential. She could be a real leader some day, but she needs to learn to control her anger. Forcing her to have a bit more contact with men is one way to let her learn that."  
  
"Seems a bit hard on Tamorasp though."  
  
"Oh I don't know, something about that man tells me he can take care of himself."  
  
By the time she reached engineering Barnette was fuming. How, how could Gascognue do this to her. Why out of all the women on the ship was she chosen to look after this man? A small voice inside her mind said that Gascognue's explanation did make sense. Barnette was one of the most martial women on the ship. In a dread, in armed or unarmed combat she had few peers. But she didn't want to listen to that voice. Men were evil, they were the enemy. Every child of Mejere was told that almost from the time they were born.   
  
This train of thought continued until Barnette reached engineering. As usual the control room was full of orange garbed techs busily tending to the engines or repairing minor damage from the last battle. She finally found Parfet in a corner of the engine room consulting a terminal.  
  
"Oh Barnette, what brings you down here?"  
  
"Gascogne's assigned me to watch over the new man on his first maintenance assignment."  
  
"Oh you've been assigned to watch over Tamorasp? That's a relief I was a little worried about sending one of my girls to watch over him."  
  
"Why has he threatened anyone?  
  
"Oh no no. It s not that, but it's just that in that briefing he attended I got the feeling that he could have. And he could have backed up the threat too."  
  
"That's strange to hear from you Parfet, I thought you didn't mind the new men?"  
  
"Well I've only really had contact with their doctor and he was interesting, but this new one there's just something about him."  
  
Barnette waited but Parfet didn't elaborate further.  
  
"Oh the maintenance list, right now where did I put that? Oh here it is."  
  
Parfet passed over a dataslate which Barnette started to scroll through. "Storage rooms, light fixtures, circuit breakers. Most of this seems like pretty basic stuff Parfet?"  
  
"Well most of it is, we've cleaned up the major damage since the last battle. All that's really left is minor repairs and bringing on line some of the areas from the men's section."  
  
"The men's section?"  
  
"Yes, some of those areas that came from the old colony ship look like they haven't been maintained since the founding! Most of them were barely working. We've been trying to bring some of them on line to help meet the ships requirements, but so far no luck. Like section 2-24. It's an old water recycling plant. We've been trying to get it on line so that we can increase our water supplies, but for some reason its just not working."  
  
"What's been the main problem?"  
  
"The smell"  
  
"What?" Barnette looked at Parfet with an extremely puzzled look on her face  
  
"It's a waste water recycler Barnette."  
  
"You don't mean!"  
  
"Yep all the water from the cooking section and the "facilities" has been pumped down there/ We wanted to reduce the strain on our own unit, after all it wasn't intended to last for deployments of this length, so we've been sending the worst of the waste to the unit in the old colony section. But as you can imagine the smell in there is indescribable. I've had my staff working in full containment suits, but even so I've had to take them off after a few hours apparently the smell just permeates through, not to mention the other stuff in there!"  
  
"That's disgusting."  
  
"I know but we need that section on line, if we don't then we may run out of fresh water. Well I'd better get back to it. Catch you later."  
  
A few minutes later Barnette was wandering through the crew quarters still consulting the list trying to find something acceptable. There were a large number of jobs, but they all seemed mind numbingly boring, and she was not going to spend the entire day watching a man work! But what was she going to do about…  
  
"Barnette"  
  
Looking up Barnette saw Meia walking down the corridor towards her.  
  
"I'm glad I found you. I've scheduled a squadron exercise at 1200 hrs today. We need to practise new tactics for dealing with these Cubes. Briefing starts at 1030."  
  
Barnette responded without thinking "I'll be there leader".  
  
Meia nodded briefly before walking away.  
  
Immediately afterwards realisation dawned. Shit, what did I say that for how am I going to make a squadron exercise when I'm supposed to be watching this man?  
  
I can't just leave him wandering free on the ship. If only I could lock him up for a few hours or. A thought suddenly occurred to Barnette. Quickly she scrolled through the dataslate until she found what she was looking for.  
  
Well, if the boss wants him tested, let's see how he handles this!  
  
Meanwhile, Hibiki and Tamorasp had made their way down to the main Hanger where Hibiki's Vanguard and the rest of the Bangata's were stored.  
  
As they walked Tamorasp stared about him at the forms of the Bangata's. The war machines stood in long silent rows. Their cylindrical heads and single cyclopean eye's felt like they were staring down at them. Despite this Tamorasp was unimpressed. The mecha were large but chunky. They appeared awkward, and he couldn't imagine how they would be of use in a space based environment. And the other thing was.  
  
"Are they all unarmed?" Hibiki looked up at the question.  
  
"Yeah they're stored weapon less in case of accidents during manuvering, but the weapons are stored nearby you can see some of them over there."  
  
Tamorasp eagerly followed Hibiki's pointing finger, this was what he was really interested in. He looked over at a large rack tucked into a corner, and nearly face faulted!  
  
A selection of massive spears, maces, swords and other medieval style weaponry all built to Bangata scale were stored on the racks. What the hell? he thought.  
  
"Hibiki what about ranged weaponry"  
  
"What do you mean? Bangata's aren't equipped with ranged weapons they're close combat units?"  
  
"What! But the women, you've told me they use these fighters, dreads that are equipped with cannons and long range missiles"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"And you're empires answer to high speed attack fighters is to make close combat mecha that are optimised for combat on land?"  
  
"Don't ask me, that's for the Elite to decide, I was just a third technician we just built the things we didn't ask why."  
  
Tamorasp started to feel a headache coming on. He could not understand the logic of creating something like the Bangata's to counter attacks by the dreads. Furthermore something inside him some instinct screamed against the stupidity of it. To commit men to fight in these things against an opponent who would have such an advantage. Why would they do that unless they didn't have a choice? But if they didn't have a choice then how had the men stood against the women for so long? Hibiki suddenly interrupted his thoughts.   
  
"Well, here he is, my Partner"  
  
The kid stood proudly pointing with his hand. Tamorasp looked up.  
  
This was more impressive. The machine in front of him looked similar to the other Bangata's but it was noticeably different. To start with this machine was in a sitting position with its hands on its knees. But the differences went much deeper than that. The mecha was much bulkier than its counterparts with a massive barrel chest and thicker arms and legs. The head was also smaller with an almost human seeming face instead of the single eye like lens of the other Bangata's. In a sheath on its back two huge blades could be seen carried in scabbards. But the machine still seemed little different to the other Bangata's.   
  
Then he felt it. It was nothing more then a sensation, a feeling, but he felt it coming from the form of the Bangata. Latent energy, not power in itself but the potential for power. Like a vast reservoir or a battery waiting to be tapped. It hovered there at the edge of his senses and then abruptly, as if sensing his presence it was gone.  
  
He shook himself and blinked rapidly. He tried to find the source of that feeling but it was gone. Mean while Hibiki had been blissfully describing the qualities of his partner unaware his audience was distracted. Tamorasp turned his attention back to Hibiki just in time to see the younger man freeze as a young female voice rang out.  
  
"MR ALIEN?"  
  
It was interesting to watch as Hibiki's face quickly changed from his previously animated expression to one of panic.  
  
Surprised Tamorasp turned to see what could possibly have caused such an extreme reaction in his young friend.  
  
Walking round a corridor between the rows of Bangata came a girl. Tamorasp judged her to be young, little older than Hibiki. She was wearing a pink bordered white jacket and shirt over a close fitting black tee shirt. Her long red hair went down to her calves. As he watched she called out again.  
  
"Mr Alien!"  
  
Tamorasp was about to ask he who she was looking for when she turned around and looked at him for the first time. With a cry of  
  
"Oohh it's the new alien" she bounded towards him.  
  
Tamorasp looked around him for a moment wondering what she was talking about, when he suddenly realised that as the newest arrival on the ship she was likely referring to him.  
  
He stared at her bemused as she stopped in front of him.  
  
"Hello new Alien, Dita welcomes you to the Nirvada."  
  
"Thank you Dita"  
  
"Ohh the alien said thank you to Dita. That's different, Mr Alien always runs away when Dita wants to talk."  
  
"Mr Alien? Do you mean Hibiki?"  
  
"Yes, that's his name but Dita always thinks of him as Mr Alien."  
  
Tamorasp was having a bit of trouble with the way the girl always referred to herself in the third person.  
  
"What do you want to talk to Hibiki about Dita."  
  
"Dita wants to ask Mr Alien about where he's from and what its like to live in the alien place he comes from. But Mr Alien always runs away from Dita.  
  
But now that the New Alien is here Dita can ask him!"  
  
Tamorasp took a moment to realise that she meant him.  
  
"Id like to Dita but I don't remember anything of where I come from. I can't answer your questions if I don't know myself."  
  
The redhaired Girl appeared crestfallen at this news. Her expression moved Tamorasp to say something.  
  
"But If I do remember I'll be willing to answer your questions."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes if you will make me a promise."  
  
"Dita make New Alien a promise? What kind of promise?"  
  
"Promise to call be by my name and I'll promise to tell you what you want to know."  
  
"But Dita doesn't know the new aliens Name"  
  
"That's easy it's Tamorasp."  
  
This appeared to cause a bit of trouble for the redhead.  
  
"Tamor… Tamrasp. Ohh the new aliens name is hard to say!"  
  
"Then you can just call me Tam."  
  
"Ok Tam Dita promises. Now have you seen Mr Alien?"  
  
"Well he was just here a minute ago."  
  
"Ohh then Dita will have to hurry and catch him. Bye Tam"  
  
And with that the likely redhead tool off again, calling out "Mr Alien?" as she ran.  
  
Tamorasp stood shaking his head bemused by the whole encounter. Typical the only friendly girl on the ship was more than a little weird. Now, he thought looking around, where did Hibiki get to?  
  
Suddenly Tamorasp heard a small noise coming from Hibiki's Vanguard. Slowly he moved forward to investigate. He crouched at the entrance to the cock pit and started inside. Suddenly something dropped from the ceiling of the cockpit to fall sprawled in the control seat. With an effort Tam stopped himself from jumping back as he stared down at the sprawled form of Hibiki.  
  
The youth groaned and rubbed his back. But the first words out of his mouth were.  
  
"Is she gone?" Tam shook his head bemused.  
  
"Yes, she's gone. Went down the corridor looking for you. I'm impressed, you moved that fast it was almost like you teleported."  
  
"What's Teleporting?"  
  
"Travelling instantaneously between one space and another."  
  
"What, you mean like how we were moved from Tarak."  
  
"From what you've told me something similar to that yes."  
  
"So is that how you got here, you teleported?"  
  
"I still have no idea Hibiki, but it's as good an explanation as any."  
  
The young man seemed to think of this for a few moments, then moved to change the subject.   
  
"So what do you think of my Partner?"  
  
"It's impressive" said Tam with feeling.  
  
"Damn right he is. As long as I have my partner nothing can stop me. I take care of him and he takes care of me."  
  
"So you repair and maintain it yourself."  
  
"Yes, why?" A frown began to form on the young mans face. "You think it's a techs job to care for machines?"  
  
"Far from it, I'm impressed. Your partner this Vanguard is your weapon. I've never know a true warrior to be comfortable to let others take care of their weapons."  
  
"Hey, a warrior I like the sound of that. But Tam does that mean you knew a lot of warriors?" Hibiki looked over suddenly and saw that the older man was clutching his head wincing as if in pain. "Tam are you ok"  
  
Tam nodded wearily and slowly put down his hands. "I'm fine just a headache. Its funny every time I say something like that I feel them. Maybe it's a sign that some of my memories are coming back."  
  
Hibiki still looked a little worried. "Maybe we should go and see Duero, maybe he can help."  
  
"No, its ok it's already subsiding."  
  
Hibiki nodded reluctantly, "So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?"  
  
"Well the captain said she was going to send someone to start me on some work, until then I guess my time is my own."  
  
"Want to help me with my partner?"   
  
Tam smiled at the younger man "Be happy to"  
  
But the two had barely started to move to pick up the tools when an irate female voice rang out behind them. "There you are!"  
  
Barnette was annoyed. Very annoyed. As soon as she had decided on her course of action she had gone to the men's quarters to collect the new arrival, only to find the quarters empty. She had wasted minutes in a futile search trying to find them before finally trying the sickbay. The doctor had suggested she try the Bangata bays and Barnette had wasted further minutes making the long trek across the ship. Now she had finally managed to track down this man that should have been waiting for her.  
  
Barnette now looked at this new arrival. This man was plainly different from the others. At her shout tensed suddenly before stopping to look at her. Once he had seen her the tension in his body had relaxed and he had turned to face her. This irked Barnette even more, it was as if this man had sized her up and plainly decided that she wasn't a threat just by looking at her. Who did he think he was? Barnette decided that it was time to take control of the situation.   
  
"Man. I have been assigned to take you to your work assignment for the day. I have been assigned to oversee your work so you will obey my orders." The mans only reaction was to nod his head cordially. For some reason this compliant reaction only enraged Barnette further.  
  
"Well what are you waiting for, move!" The mans lips twitched slightly.  
  
"Where?" Barnette stopped flustered.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well you haven't told me where my work assignment for the day is, and I'm still unfamiliar with this ship, so where would you like me to go?"  
  
Barnette reddened as she realised her mistake. Angrily she turned and started moving away.  
  
"Just follow me she called over her shoulder."  
  
Pausing to give Hibiki a wry smile, Tamorasp started to follow her.  
  
Barnette stalked angrily through the corridors of the Nirvada. She could not believe that she had embarrassed herself like that, and in from of men. At least there had been no other women around to witness it but doing it in front of the men was bad enough.  
  
Her mental tirade was interrupted by the voice of the man behind her.  
  
"Excuse me." Barnette ignored the man. But a few moments later the voice repeated itself.  
  
'Excuse me." Barnette whirled around and pinned the man with a glare that had all the force of her irritation behind it.  
  
"What!" She expected the man to flinch or step back. He did neither merely returning her glare with an impassive stare before speaking.   
  
"I just wanted to ask your name."  
  
"Why" asked Barnette suspiciously? The man shrugged.  
  
"Just common courtesy. And besides if we are going to be working together it would be nice to have something to call each other than Man and Woman."  
  
Barnette flushed again as she realised that she had been so worked up she had failed to even introduce herself.   
  
"Barnette" she ground out. The man responded by nodding his head respectfully.  
  
"Pleased to meet you Barnette, my name is Tamorasp." Barnette ignored him and started walking again.  
  
Behind her Tamorasp followed. Of all the women on this ship she was the most outwardly hostile of any he had met so far. He wondered if they had deliberately chosen this woman to irritate him. If so they would have to do far better than this. One thing that he remembered was that it was always best to hide your real feelings behind a mask of courtesy. It gave others no indication of what you were really thinking, and if they should choose to think you weak because you failed to respond to their insults, so much the better.  
  
Finally Barnette stopped in front of what appeared to be their destination. They were in what appeared to be an older part of the ship. The corridors were poorly lit and the hallways were dirty and marked by age. Several times Barnette had had to refer to the dataslate she was carrying to find her way through the maze of corridors, but finally they had stopped. Tamorasp looked around interestedly beside the door was a sign. It was badly worn and streaked with grime but still legible.  
  
"Secondary water treatment plant" he said out loud. Barnette turned to him in shock.  
  
"How did you know that?"   
  
He pointed. "That's what the sign says." She stared at the sign blankly.  
  
"You can read the men's language?" He shrugged.  
  
Barnette could barely restrain herself. This man had been nothing but courteous, even she could find no fault with his manners, unlike some of the other men. But his every little action seemed to annoy her further. It felt like he was constantly taking the advantage away from her. Well no matter she told herself. Let's see how he deals with this!  
  
Barnette keyed the doors open and the smell flowed our. The stench was indescribable, worse than anything she had imagined. Once on Majere when she had been learning to cook a freeze unit had failed and the food inside had rotted. The smell of that had made her feel ill. This was worse, much worse. The smell, like some ungodly combination of rotten eggs, sulphur and chemicals assaulted all of her senses. It was all she could do to keep control of her stomach and stop herself from dry heaving. As it was she had to focus on breathing through her mouth in an effort to avoid the smell, even that was only partly successful. Gasping Barnette turned to see how the man was taking it. Gratifyingly even he seemed to be affected by the odour. He held one hand over his mouth as it to shield it from the smell and his normally olive skin had a distinct tinge to it that made him appear ill. So she though triumphantly, even he is affected by this.  
  
"What in gods name is that stench?" asked Tam.  
  
"Your assignment." The man looked at her incredulously.  
  
"You cannot be serious."  
  
Barnette smiled nastily and forced herself to entered the chamber that was the source of the smell. After a moment Tamorasp followed her.  
  
The chamber within was huge. The walls of the room were dominated by pipes and large machines, broken up here and there by a panel of controls or a computer workstation. The floor of the room was dominated by a massive pool. It was from this that the stench emanated. The side of the pool were encrusted with muck in a variety of colour and hues. The water itself, if you could call it that was a uniform dark brown broken here and there with patches of algae or more solid matter in a variety of colours. The stench in here was even worse than outside, and it took a tremendous force of will for both of them to control their stomaches.   
  
"What is this place?"  
  
"Secondary waste water recycling plant."   
  
Tamorasp looked around, both hands now cupped protectively over his mouth. His eyes were now starting to water from the smell. "It doesn't look like its working."  
  
"Exactly and that's your job."  
  
"My Job?"  
  
"That's right, you are being put on maintenance, and it is now your job to get this plant working."  
  
Barnette relished the slightly panicked look that was now on the man's face. "But I don't know anything about how to fix a plant like this. I'd have no idea where to start!"  
  
"That's your problem. You volunteered to help, well this is where we need help."  
  
Barnette could see that the man was about to protest further so she cut him off.  
  
"Look the engineering staff have already started on the job, but we're short staffed, just carry on with the work they started." Saying this Barnette handed over the data pad she had been consulting and turned to leave.  
  
"Hold on where are you going."  
  
Barnette turned back hotly "It's not my job to baby-sit you all day. I'm a dread pilot, I have other duties to attend too. Oh and just so you know as you are still on probation, I'll be locking you in for the duration of this shift. You'll find tools and equipment in the storage lockers." That said Barnette exited through the doors and keyed them locked. Smiling pleased at the morning's work she started to make her way to the dread simulators. As she walked part of her wondered if she had been too harsh on the man. The smell in that room had been truly terrible, Parfet had not been joking. She had only meant to humble him a little, this might be overdoing it. Then she shook herself. Don't be stupid, this is a man he deserves everything he gets.   
  
Back in the recycling plant Tamorasp spent a full five minutes calling down every curse he could remember and several he was inspired to make up down on Barnette' head. Until he realised that this necessitated him breathing harder an act that he felt he should limit as much as possible. Scowling at the memory of the evil bitch that had locked him in here, he looked down to consult the dataslate she had left behind. What he saw almost made him start swearing again. The information on the slate was in an unfamiliar language. He could make out the diagram of the plant, but the descriptions and directions were gibberish. How what the hell was he supposed to do. Frustrated he scrolled through the slate. Nothing, nothing, nothing. None of it made any sense. Rage built within him the more he scrolled through. And then something else started to build. In the back of his head he a felt a sense of pressure. Faintly at first but then greater and greater. Pain built with the pressure. Soon it was unbearable he screamed clutching his head, trying to relieve the building pain. Then suddenly it peaked, an explosion of pain rocked through his head. Stars seemed to wink before his eyes. The force of it drove him to his knees. Gasping he blinked his eyes to restore his vision. He was still a little unsteady but now the pain had gone. What the hell was that he wondered? Bemused he knelt down to take another look at the dataslate and started. What had once been gibberish was now clear. The symbols, the writing he could read it. This didn't make any sense. He scrolled back to the start of the instructions. It was all now perfectly clear. The symbols themselves were unfamiliar but somehow he knew what they said. How the hell did that happen? He pondered for several minutes but no explanation came. Then shrugging he settled down to read the instructions on the data slate, the smell of the room temporarily forgotten.   
  
A couple of hour's later Barnette staggered out of her dread simulator. She felt exhausted. Meia had run all the Dread teams through simulated exercises for hours. Each team had taken turns running through defensive and offensive manoeuvres around the Nirvada. And they had continued until Meia saw satisfied that the teams could perform the manoeuvres to her satisfaction. Barnette signed, she admired Meia's dedication as a leader but sometime's she wished that she was just a little bit less business-like all the time. As if in answer to that thought Meia walked to the front of the simulator room.  
  
"Alright everyone, that was adequate for today but we still need more work." A chorus of voices rose in protest. Meia raised her hand for silence. With an unknown enemy out there we must remain vigilant. From today onwards we will be performing daily drills to sharpen our skills. Out here our lives and the lives of everyone on this ship depend on how well we can perform our jobs. We owe it to everyone one on board to be at our best." Silence greeted this comment. All the pilots gathered there could understand that even if they might resent the extra training time. Meia looked around at the gathering. "All right then, dismissed, see you here again tomorrow."  
  
Barnette sighed and made her way over to where Jura was waiting for here. It had felt like a long day and a bath would be welcome, preferably with Jura as company. Jura smiled at her approach and opened he mouth to speak but then.  
  
"Jura, Dita, Barnette. Please make your way to the launch decks, I've arranged some additional practise for us." Voices were raised in protest at this Jura's the loudest.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"But leader"  
  
"MORE PRACTICE! But I'm tired I need a bath and a change of clothes."  
  
"We need more practise. The simulators cannot yet recreate all the new capabilities of our dreads and we have not yet found out all they can do. Barnette I want you there to observe how the dreads handle and provide any observations."  
  
The others protested but although she was quiet Meia had a resolve like iron and the four soon found themselves on the way to their dreads. Amid all this Barnette completely forgot about another duty she was neglecting.  
  
Sweating inside the environmental suit he had found in a storage compartment, Tamorasp finished screwing a panel back into place. Sighing he picked up the dataslate and began reviewing its contents for the umpteenth time. For the past four hours he had gone through and performed all the maintenance steps that the slate had deemed necessary to bring the plant on line. He had checked cables and wires, replaced fuses and ensured that the main flow lines were open. According to the slate the recycling plant should now be working. But every time he tried to start the system he got the same message "Block in feed line". But according to the system specs all the feed lines had automated scrubbers to clear any blockage. He had just spend the last 2 hours checking each of the scrubbers and making sure that they were online, all of them had checked out so what the hell was the problem?  
  
Signing deeply he sat back and consulted the plant diagram once more trying to find where the problem might be. Ha! Who was he kidding, he wasn't an engineer he didn't know how machines worked, so how could he expect to understand. FLASH  
  
Suddenly he found himself in an immense space. It was filled with strange structures. They were made out of metal and crystal. They were made up of weird forms and patterns that seemed to make no logical sense. He tried to look around but discovered that he had no control over his body. That's because this isn't a body he realised, this is a memory. Suddenly his vision shifted and he found himself staring at a familiar blue steel robot, the same he had seen in his earlier vision. The robot began to speak.  
  
"Machinery is easy to understand. Every item of machinery is built to fulfil a function. Therefore logic dictates that if you understand the function of a device and its purpose you will be able to understand how it works by following the logical progression of its progress in completing that function. Appearance can be the first key."   
  
A voice he was startled to recognise as his own interrupted.  
  
"But there are devices all round me whose appearance yields no clue as to their function."  
  
"To you they appear to have no purpose my friend. Shub relies far less on ascetics than you humans do. For you, in order to fulfil a function a device often needs to be recognisable by its appearance so that it is familiar to you. We have no need for this. For us the appearance of a device is dictated by the function it needs to perform. But that is what I am trying to teach you. If successful we will be able to expand your horizons so that your ability to perceive is no longer limited by Human perceptions."   
  
"But logic in itself is also limited by the assumptions that it is often based on." At this the robot pressed its hands together and bowed.   
  
"This is true, that is why it is our hope that if we can help you to think in the way we do, that you will also be able to teach us some more human ways for approaching problems"   
  
In the memory he felt himself smile at the Robot.  
  
"I think you are already making progress in that regard my friend." The robot cocked its head in polite inquiry. "You just used the word hope." And as the vision faded Tamorasp could hear or feel the Robot laughing along with him.  
  
FLASH: Jerked back from the vision Tamorasp contemplated what had unfolded to him. He did not doubt that it had been himself in the vision but it had still only yielded scant details about who he was. At least he now knew who or rather what the robot was. A construct used by the AI's of Shub to speak with others. He now knew that he had been friends with the AI's, that he had trusted them enough to be alone with them. And that they had in turn trusted him enough to let him on Shub, which was in effect their body. The moon where their collective consciousnesses were stored. He remembered the massive rooms and alien machinery that had abounded on that world. But he also remembered being comfortable there.  
  
But other memories also surfaced that worried him. A memory flickered in his consciousness that linked the name Shub with the title Enemies of Humanity. But why was that? There had been no malice or evil in the AI he had talked with he was sure. But did that mean that he had also been an enemy of humanity? The thought was disquieting. Shaking himself he resolved to worry about it later. It appeared that his memories were returning, but at a very slow pace. He would wait until he remembered more before he made any decision. Until then, back to the matter at hand.  
  
He resumed his study of the diagram, but now something was different. In his mind he could see how the plant operated. From the diagram before him his mind pieced together the workings of the plant. How the water flowed, how the scrubbers operated, how it was purified and treated and how the waste was disposed of. As he focused on the problem his mind seemed to expand further expanding and listing all the individual processes and assumptions upon which it was based. When it was finished he sat back gasping for breath. It felt like a tidal wave of information had poured through his brain. Already the feeling was receding and part of him knew that this was a precaution. He could not leave his brain operating in that way and still interact normally as a human. But it had left him with a potential solution to his problem. He looked over at the pool in the centre of the room and grimaced. He had better check the seals on the suit just to be sure.   
  
An hour or so later Barnette stumbled out of her dread feeling utterly exhausted. Meia had put the three improved dreads through a growling series of exercises. Barnette had only been there to monitor them and offer advice but even she felt exhausted. She was just about to head over to the other hanger and find Jura when a voice stopped her in her tracks.   
  
"Barnette, what have you been doing?"  
  
Barnette winced, and turned. Gascognue BC and Parfet stood at the foot of the access ladder to her dread and none of them looked happy.   
  
"Gasco, what do you mean?"  
  
"Its Gascogne Barnette, and you should know what I mean. I ordered you to supervise Tamorasp what are you doing going out in your dread?"  
  
Barnette flushed but replied defiantly.  
  
"Meia ordered us to extra practise as a member of the dread teams that's my first responsibility."  
  
"As your superior your responsibility is whatever I say it is Barnette. And as for Meia's order, did you tell her that I had assigned you to other duties. No I thought not. Now where the heck is the man? I went to check to check with Parfet when he failed to show up for shift change but she thought he was with you. Now I find that you've gone off in you dread and left him to wander the ship unsupervised."  
  
"I didn't leave him unsupervised. I locked him in one of the work areas and left him with a dataslate of instructions."  
  
BC suddenly interrupted.  
  
"Barnette, we have already searched all of the work areas that Parfet gave you. There was no sign of him anywhere. Now if you can't tell me where he is we are going to have to order a ship wide search."  
  
"I left the man in the secondary waste water treatment plant." BC and Gascogne looked at each other in puzzlement, but this was broken by a loud shout from Parfet.  
  
"You did WHAT?"  
  
Minutes later they were all hurrying through the corridors of the ship making their way to the treatment plant. Parfet had called for a few of her engineering assistants to join them, and BC had contacted Duero to tell him to meet them their with his emergency treatment kit. Parfet had been incredulous when Barnette has said that she had locked the man in the plant more than 6 hours ago. When she had talked to Barnette earlier she had failed to mention that extended exposure to the combination of fumes in the chamber was dangerous. He previous teams had worn environmental suits to protect them from the fumes. But the suits that had been left in the room had not been resupplied lately. There was no telling if there was enough air in them to last, or even if the man would be able to use one of the suits. Further more the intercoms in that section of the ship weren't working yet. If Tamorasp was in trouble he would have no way to call for help. This had led to the desperate race through the corridors as they struggled to reach the room in time to prevent the accidental death of their newest crew member. Barnette ran along side the rest. She didn't like the man but she had only meant to inconvenience him. She had never meant to put his life in danger. Now like the rest she hoped that they weren't too late.  
  
Finally they reached the doors to the chamber. Duero and Parfet's two assistants were waiting there. Swiftly Barnette entered the security code and unlocked the doors. The party was immediately assaulted by the smell, but Parfet handed out hand respirators which they all quickly donned before making their way into the room to find.  
  
An empty chamber.  
  
The vast chamber stood silent and empty. Tamorasp was nowhere in sight.   
  
"What the? Where is he?" blurted one of the engineers.  
  
They all looked around confused.  
  
"This chamber has only one exit he couldn't have gotten out any other way." Voiced Parfet.  
  
Barnette looked over at one of the main terminals. Tools taken from the storage lockers were piled on the desk, on the floor were two containment suits and a number of oxygen bottles. The man had obviously been here, but where had he gone?  
  
Then one of the engineers screamed. They all spun around to stare at where she was pointing. In the vast pool in the centre of the chamber something was moving. At first it was a ripple that barely disturbed the surface, but as it reached the edge of the pool by a filth encrusted ladder it suddenly started to rise, a head appeared followed by shoulders and the rest of a body. It was a containment suit. The suit was so smeared with filth from the pool that it was almost unrecognisable. Everyone was so surprised at this sight that no one commented when the suit exited the pool and made its way to a nearby terminal. The figure picked up a rag and wiped the worst of the mess from the gloves of the suit. Then it bent over the terminal and entered a command. For a moment there was the sudden throb of machinery in the room, when just as suddenly it stopped. The figure slapped the desk in irritation then strode purposely towards one of the long cylindrical machines that dominated the walls of the chamber. Upon reaching it the figure let fly with a full bodies open handed slap against the side of the machine.   
  
Parfet started to cry out in protest at this abuse of equipment. But her protest died almost before hit had begun. Once more the room filled with the low throb of machinery. Only this time it did not stutter and die. Instead it became louder and stronger. The waters of the pool started to move sluggishly, drawing towards the intake pipes that formed the base of the cylinders around the room.   
  
Parfet and the other engineers stared around with wonder. But Barnette and the others turned to stare at the figure in the suit, which it seemed had finally noticed them.  
  
The figure reached up to unsnap the seal and remove the helmet portion of the suit, and Barnette found herself staring at Tamorasp's grinning face.  
  
"Hey Barnette. Time for shift change already?"  
  
Some time later in the briefing room Magno sat drinking a cup of tea as she reviewed the day's reports. Those concerning the newcomer were interesting. Apparently thanks to him the secondary water treatment plant was now operational. It would still take almost a week for it to clear up the accumulated mess it already contained, but according to Parfet after that it would soon be ready to be integrated into the ships systems. Once the place had been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected of course.  
  
Gascogne had assigned Barnette to assist with the clean up crew. She thought that it would be a fitting punishment for shirking her responsibility and Magno agreed with her. Parfet had been amazed at the man's work. She had thought it would take day's to isolate the problem and get the plant running. She was requesting that the man be assigned to engineering so that the cold see what other talents he had.  
  
That was a request that Magno was currently considering. A buzz from the intercom interrupted her train of thought.  
  
"Boss, Tamorasp is here to see you."  
  
"Thank you, send him in."  
  
Looking up Magno could not conceal a smile at the sight that entered the room. Tamorasp appeared absolutely spotless. From his boots to the tips of his hair he almost shined. As well he should after the washing he received. After his little swim in the tank Gascogne and Parfet's first action was to send the man for a bath. For several baths actually. Mango could see that some of his skin was still raw from scrubbing, The two had flatly refused to let the man leave the bathing areas until they were satisfied he was clean and then they had bombarded him with a variety of scents in an effort to remove the smell they were convinced still clung to him. From where she sat Magno could pick up a faint whiff of a perfume from Majere that she recognised as one of Gascogne's favourites.   
  
"That's an interesting scent you are wearing."  
  
"You like it? It's a little feminine for my tastes, but I'm considering asking Gascogne for a bottle."  
  
Mango laughed at the man's joke, weak as it had been. As things were he had handled the situation with remarkable restraint and she felt no urge to push him further.   
  
"Sit down young man." Tamorasp complied.   
  
"Now Tamorasp."  
  
"Tam"  
  
"What"  
  
"Please, call me Tam, it's the less formal form of my name."  
  
Magno nodded.  
  
"So some of your memories have been returning?" Tam's expression appeared guarded.  
  
"Some," he admitted. "But they are largely fragments with no clear links. That or I suddenly find myself with knowledge about things I wasn't aware of before."  
  
"Like your apparent talent with machines. So is Parfet right in her supposition that you were an engineer that somehow transported yourself here?"  
  
"I don't know about that, somehow it just doesn't feel right. Let's just say that trying to understand machines was a hobby of mine."  
  
There was a deeper meaning behind that comment, Magno could feel it but she let it pass, now was not the time.   
  
"Well whatever it is we could use it. Parfet has requested that you be transferred to the engineering section. I thought that I would get your impression before agreeing."  
  
"Parfet? The brown haired girl with glasses? Yes she seems to know what she's doing, I could feel comfortable taking orders from her."  
  
Magno sensed what was unspoken behind that statement.  
  
"Yes on another matter I feel that I should apologise to you for the way Barnette treated you. You should not have had to endure that."  
  
Tam nodded graciously "Accepted captain, I can't say that I enjoyed the experience but some good did come of it."  
  
"So you won't take any action against Barnette?"  
  
Tam shrugged.  
  
"She disobeyed orders and she's being punished for it. As far as I am concerned the matter is settled. If she lets it be so will I."  
  
Magno nodded. Under the circumstances that was the best she could hope for.  
  
"Alright then, report to Parfet at the first shift tomorrow. If you have no other questions that will be all."  
  
Tam nodded to her before standing up and leaving the room.   
  
After he was gone Magno picked up another report and read through it for the second time. This was Duero's report after he had examined Tam following the events in the chamber. Apparently Tam has suffered no ill effects from his time in the chamber. That is what was worrying. The gasses and fumes in there had been mildly toxic. According to Parfet anyone unsuited would have been unconscious within a half hour and dead after more than one. But Tam had remained largely unsuited for the majority of the time he had spent in the chamber. There had only been enough oxygen in the remaining gas bottles to last for three hours. Tam should have been dead long before Parfet and the others had come for him. But somehow he had survived with no ill effects. Troubled Magno sat back to ponder the increasing puzzle that their new arrival represented.   
  
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Whew that was a long chapter. And a lot of it was still to set the scene. But don't worry in the next chapter the action starts to pick up. It will be set roughly along the lines of episode 4 in the first season. Tamorasp suddenly has great incentive to rediscover his main skill and in ain't engineering.  
  
As always reviews, criticism and advice are welcomed.  
  
Please send to darkblade101westnet.com.au 


	4. VanStalker Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
As one of my readers pointed out the name of the ship is the "Nirvana" not the Nirvada. An error I have endeavoured to correct in this chapter. My thanks to Mike Silva for pointing this out.   
  
Vanstalker: Part 3)  
  
Space. Cold black, limitless, at least to the human imagination. Although scientists are now prepared to explain to anyone who will listen that space indeed must have limits.  
  
To our imagination the void remains limitless and full of potential and although it is dark it is not without light. The stars shine for us to keep the complete darkness at bay. Like shining jewels but far rarer and more precious. To a watcher in this particular sector of space, had there been any, it would have appeared as if one of those jewels was gradually growing brighter and brighter. Until it would be revealed not to be a star at all, but a ship. The pirate ship Nirvana, a far rarer jewel in the night.  
  
On board the Nirvana things had started to settle down into more of a routine. The female crew were starting to get accustomed if not comfortable to the presence of men on their ship. The three men from Taraaku were getting more and more used to living among those they had considered to be their most hated enemies. Bart had even eventually been convinced that the women's threats to eat their livers were empty, although that was possibly brought on by Tamorasp's seemingly very real threat to eat more than just his liver if he didn't shut up about it. Tamorasp had been introduced to the food pills the men ate and to say he was not happy with the situation was an understatement of truly epic proportions. But being unaware that there was anything else to eat, and lacking both sufficient hunger and provocation to attempt cannibalism, Tam had resigned himself to the tasteless pills. That morning on his way back from the showers he poured a large quantity into his mouth from the nearest container before swallowing them with the assistance of a glass of water. According to Duero each pill was supposed to provide enough nutrients and energy for 3 hours of work time (1). All the other men got by on 3 a day tops, but lately he was eating the stuff like candy. Not that he had developed any liking for the foul tasting capsules, his disgust remained as great as ever, but he felt his body needed it, although he had no idea why.  
  
True he had been expending more energy, both during his morning exercises with Duero and Hibiki and during his shifts in engineering with Parfet. The chief engineer had been both impressed and disappointed with him after his first week. Disappointed because no matter how hard he tried he seemed incapable of learning the workings of the ships reactor. Parfet had spent hours trying to teach him how the plexis reactor worked to power the ship. But in every case after as little as ten minutes he would find himself blindly staring at the great crystalline mass at the centre of the Plexis. It took either a trip to medical, or in the case of the third incident, a slap to the face by Barnette (who was only too happy to help the man in this way) to bring him back to attention. After each session either Duero or Magno had quizzed him about what had happened. To which he had only been able to reply that truthfully he did not know. From the moment he started staring to the moment he was brought round, in each case he could remember nothing of what happened during the time in between. So after the 3rd incident Duero had recommended he be assigned duties elsewhere on the ship since the plexis obviously affected him so badly. Parfet had assigned him a permanent place on the repair and maintenance crew and this was where she had been pleasantly surprised. Tam, as he was now known, seemed to have a talent for maintenance and repair. It appeared that no job was too big, too complex or too dirty for him, as he had already demonstrated with the waste water plant. Restoration of the areas he had been assigned was already ahead of schedule and Magno had approved Parfet's request that he be assigned to engineering on a permanent basis. He had even gotten to know some of the engineering staff, well at least enough to learn their names and work with them. But, Tam thought to himself, when the restoration is completed will they still need me? Heh don't be stupid, he thought, you have much bigger problems than that. From the glances he was now getting from Magno he knew that she suspected that he remembered more of his past than he was letting on. And in that she was right. More of his memories had been returning. Either in dreams or in flashbacks during his work shifts. He knew that he should share what he remembered with these people. But how can I expect them to believe me, when the memories I have make no sense?  
  
Signing Tamorasp turned and grabbed his jacket before heading off for his first shift.  
  
Distracted by his thoughts he didn't see a slim black gloved hand holding a camera disappear behind a crate, or hear a young female voice whisper "Pai check."  
  
In the forward section of the ship subcommander Buzzam leaned over a data terminal and inserted a data disk into a drive, on either side of her, nestled in their launch cradles lay two message pods. Little more than a reactor an engine and a guidance system the pods were relic's from the colonisation era. The men had never bothered to remove them from the old Ikazuchi and only a few still worked. But they were the pirate's best hope of getting a message home warning of the enemy they had encountered. Suddenly a holoscreen lit up behind Buzzum.  
  
"B.C?" asked Magno over the vid link.  
  
Buzzum stood up to answer.  
  
"The communication pods are ready to be fired."  
  
"Why is there another one?"  
  
"Its for Taraaku. We must let Taraaku know about the dangers too. So we should send the communications."  
  
"Well fine, do it."  
  
"Yes, I'll fire them." With that Buzzam pressed the winking green button on the main panel.  
  
Immediately the two pods launched from the Nirvana. Hurtling through space, their much lower mass allowing them an acceleration that the much larger ship could not match. But just as the pods neared the edge of the Nirvanas forward sensors two massive explosions rippled through space directly in the Nirvanas path. The pods were gone, and hovering malignantly over the wreckage where they had been was a familiar and dreaded sight. Cube fighters.  
  
They barely paused before hurling themselves at the oncoming Nirvana.  
  
"Battle stations!" Magno called from the bridge as explosions from incoming fire blanketed the Nirvana's hull. In the cafeteria female crew members barely had time to recover from the initial shock before they were urged to their duty stations.  
  
Meia and Jura hurried to the bay where they're dreads were docked, only to find Dita waiting for them staring down the runway.  
  
"Dita what are you doing? Get to your dread!"  
  
"But Mr Alien already left."  
  
"He what"  
  
"Yes" said the red head spinning on the spot. "Swoosh, he was so fast."  
  
In the space outside the Nirvana Hibiki's vanguard hurtled to meet the oncoming cube fighters. The young man yelled in excitement as he jinxed and twisted to meet the incoming enemy fire. Since he started with Tam and Duero in the mornings he had started to feel more sure of himself. At first he had just felt tired at the seemingly unnecessary exertion, but now each time he felt a little stronger, a little surer, and that had come across in his piloting as well. He flew straight at an approaching cube fighter stopping only to cut it in half with one of his Vanguards blades. The remaining fighters held back and fired their cannons, but Hibiki only continued his charge twisting and spinning to avoid their fire until he came within striking distance of another fighter, and then he was past it leaving only burning wreckage in its wake.   
  
The final two fighters appeared to change tactics. Splitting up they came at the vanguard from two sides. Hibiki stared back and forth between them trying to make up his mind which to engage while the two fighters closed in on him. Then at the last second before they struck he brought the vanguards arms up to shield his body as the two cubes hurled themselves against him erupting in a massive explosion.   
  
When the debris from the blast cleared the bridge crew could see the vanguard flying in the middle of the debris field completely unharmed.  
  
"Did you see that women?" Called out Hibiki over the com link, as managed to somehow make his Vanguard appear to strut arrogantly through open space.  
  
"After all you guys can't do it without me, HAHAHA."   
  
Full of the confidence and arrogance after his victory, Hibiki had no idea the surprise that was to await him when he landed.   
  
Hibiki had barely started to get out of the cock pit of his Vanguard when he saw them. Waiting before the vanguard was the blue haired woman who was the leader of the dread teams. Behind her, looking obviously nervous was Dita.  
  
Still feeling cocky from his victory Hibiki called down.  
  
"What's up? Did you come to say thanks?"  
  
If Hibiki had had any experience with women he may have recognised the cold stare Meia gave him. As he was, he was oblivious until she started to speak.  
  
"Stop showing off! Your solo-play is too dangerous. Next time act according to my orders."  
  
Hibiki jumped down from his vanguard and turned to face her before replying.  
  
"Don't make me laugh. You can't defeat those enemies if you fear danger. Well, don't worry. I'll help you guys out with my great skills!"  
  
Meia closed her eyes in a look that was part exasperation part grimace. Before he could speak again she cut him off.  
  
"You're barking like a weak dog."  
  
Surprised by her words, Hibiki stopped his posing and turned to face the dread leader.  
  
"True. If I am shaking with fear, I wont even be able to speak."  
  
Meia flushed and retorted 'You are not the one who's great. Its that Weapon!"  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"I just said the truth."  
  
"You think you are so important! What do you want!"  
  
'You are a prisoner!"  
  
"Well, who's getting help from the 'prisoner'!"  
  
During the exchange Dita got visibly more and more nervous as the verbal battle between the two escalated. It finally ended when Hibiki set of in a huff. Meia's barbs had bitten deeper than he was willing to show, but he had decided to do something about it by doing straight to the top.  
  
"You did what?"  
  
Hibiki had found Tam while he was on a break from his first shift of the day. As he hadn't been feeling particularly tired he had moved on to his second assigned duty station to get started on the repairs before the rest of the shift team arrived. Despite the fact that some of the engineering crew were willing to work beside him many were still unwilling to listen to a man's advice, let alone take an order from him. Tam had found a way around this particular problem. By arriving early, setting up the work areas and starting on what he saw as the best way to deal with the problem. When the women on the shift arrived they simply saw when he was doing and pitched in. At first there had been a few complaints, but these had died when then had seen how quickly the work got done. To Tam it made perfect sense. These were women but they were also engineers, they might balk at taking orders from a man but they were too professional to argue with a good plan. By setting up beforehand Tam avoided the need to tell them what to do, and they could pretend they weren't working at a man's direction.  
  
Their behaviour still irked Tam a little but he put up with it. Judging from what he had heard both the men and the women on this ship had grown up in an environment very different from the glimpses he remembered of his own childhood. He accepted their behaviour because he knew that even being willing to work beside him was to them a rebellion against what they had been taught their entire lives. He hoped that in time they might get used to him and let their barriers down further, but he didn't expect it to happen anytime soon. Which was why Hibiki's statement had surprised him so much.  
  
"I said that I convinced that old Hag who leads the other women to give me a better job on this ship!"  
  
"Wait, wait. Settle down for a minute and tell me in detail what happened."  
  
Hibiki sighed at him in exasperation for a moment before finally setting out what had happened that morning. The battle with the cubes, his argument with Meia and finally how he had convinced Magno to give him a place that better suited his talents.  
  
Tam took Hibiki's description of the events with a liberal pinch of salt and tried to hold on to his patience. He forced himself to listen to Hibiki's enthusiastic but completely unbelievable description of the battle. He somehow doubted that the lad had taken out a whole fleet of the cubes by himself. But he held his comments unit after Hibiki had finished.   
  
"You mean the Captain agreed to reassign you just like that?"  
  
"Well yeah, I mean she could hardly refuse after I reminded her about how I had saved everyone on this ship."  
  
"That's a point, but I don't see why the Captain would give in that easily, especially after the way you acted with her and the dread Leader."  
  
"What do you mean after how I acted? She's just jealous of my performance and worried that no one will listen to her anymore, after seeing me. And what's wrong with how I acted. I simply told them how it was."  
  
Tam had to struggle not to wince at the arrogance in the youth's voice.   
  
"You have no concept of diplomacy do you? And I somehow doubt that the dread leader was motivated purely by jealousy. I've seen her and though I doubt she has any liking for us I can't see her letting that get in the way of her professionalism."  
  
"What's diplomacy? And why are you always so respectful when you talk about the women?"  
  
Now it was Tam's turn to look surprised.  
  
"How do you mean?"  
  
"You always call the old hag, Captain. You always obey what the women tell you to do. You talk about them like men on Tarak would talk about the Elite. What's wrong with you?"  
  
With an effort Tam kept control of his temper. Remember, he said to himself, this youth has come from a completely different environment. His prejudices were trained into him. Tam thought carefully before he replied.  
  
"Because that's how my father taught me to behave. It costs nothing to behave with respect and courtesy Hibiki. You should set your own standard for how you behave not lower yourself to the standards of others."  
  
Hibiki stepped back for a moment confused. For a while he looked thoughtful before asking. "You mean you behave that way towards them women because they don't behave that way towards us?"  
  
"There is an element of that. If I treat them with courtesy but they treat me with scorn, who is the better person? There are many ways to fight Hibiki, not all of them are overt."  
  
The youth looked thoughtful again for a moment.  
  
"Ok, I'll except that, but don't expect me to follow suit. I'll show respect for them when they show some for me."  
  
"That's your choice lad. Now other than to tell me your news why else did you come down here?"  
  
"Oh I almost forgot." Hibiki started digging around in his pockets before finally pulling out a small data note. "The old women asked me to give this too you after she gave me the new job. Well I'd better go I start my shift at the register soon."  
  
Hibiki turned and moved away a few steps but stopped before he left the room.  
  
"Tam, earlier you said that your father taught you to behave that way. Does that mean, have your memories returned?"  
  
Tam looked at Hibiki and sighed deeply. "Yes and no. I have some memories now, but most of them are mixed up and confusing. I remember a few things, places, people very clearly. But the rest of it is still disjointed and what little I can recall doesn't make any sense."  
  
"But some of you memories are returning right? So in time you may remember everything?"  
  
"I hope so."  
  
Hibiki gave him a final smile before he waved and walked out the door.  
  
In the room Tam sat back and thought about their conversation. Yes he did remember some things. He remembered the AI's of Shub and learning from them. He remembered the mountains and deep forests of the world on which he had grown up. He remembered serving on another spaceship, wearing a uniform. But he also had other memories. Memories of battles, battles in which he had fought and killed. In which he and his comrades had fought in the defence of others. But the others they had fought to defend had often been aliens. And the ones he had been fighting often wore the same uniform he had.  
  
Tam shook away those memories that he still could not make sense of. Then he turned his attention to the note Hibiki had left him.  
  
It took him a moment to read it, someone had written this with a light pen, not a key pad. Slowly he made out the words that were formed from in a beautiful curved script.  
  
I sent the young one somewhere new in the hope he might learn something.  
  
It occurred to me that if we expect you to be open about your past you should know something of ours. Why don't you join him in the register at fourth watch, Gascognue will expect you.  
  
Magno  
  
Tam smiled to himself. Oh Hibiki, I think you have seriously underestimated your opposition. Then laughing to himself, he set about finishing his preparations before the next shift started.  
  
As the door slid open Hibiki entered eagerly.  
  
"So this is the register, Ahhhhh"  
  
Shock momentarily froze him where he stood. The large room he had entered was dominated by two tables running down its length. On each of the tables were a number of computer terminals and standing behind each terminal in a weird frilly outfit were women.  
  
Hibiki's confusing was further compounded as all the women turned towards him as one and bowed.  
  
"WELCOME" they chanted in unison.  
  
A while later Hibiki found himself dressed in an outfit similar to the women. For the past hour he had been trying to get a feel for what he was supposed to do here.   
  
Finally he had had enough and he exploded.  
  
"I don't get this. What the hell am I supposed to be doing here? What's a Kamikaze set. Why do I have to wear these stupid clothes?"  
  
As he ranted the group of three women who had been trying to teach him clustered together in shock at the anger in his voice. Just as Hibiki looked about to start again a new voice interrupted him.  
  
"It's a load of fuel and bombs. I got the idea from the men."  
  
Hibiki shifted his attention to the newcomer. She was tall and broader than most of the women he had seen. Unlike the others, she was dressed in a paid of dark trousers, with a short sleaved tan shirt with flaring shoulder pads.   
  
"You're the boss of this place. What kind of place is this, all you do is smile."  
  
"We see off our fellow fighters with a smile. It's the most important thing in the register."  
  
"Smile! What's so great about this, Geez." Hibiki stopped suddenly as the woman moved forward to stand in front of him.  
  
"It is a great job. A pilot doesn't fly on their own. They fight first with a lot of help. We are the ones who provide that help behind the scenes.  
  
Mmm you may not be suited for register work, when the other one gets here I'll show you out the back."  
  
"The other one?"  
  
No sooner had Hibiki finished than the doors to the register opened and Tam stepped in.  
  
After one look at Hibiki, Tam had to exercise every shred of willpower he had to stop himself from dropping to the floor and laughing hysterically. As it was he could feel a massive grin passing over his face as he moved forward.   
  
"Hibiki, nice outfit." The youth glared at him but he didn't understand what he found amusing, for which Tam was profoundly thankful. Tam turned to the rooms other occupant.  
  
"Miss Gascognue, I've been told to assign myself to you for a few hours."  
  
Gascognue tilted her head at him surprised. "You got my name right first time. Not many people manage that."  
  
"Just a common courtesy."  
  
'I see so should I return the courtesy?"  
  
"No, just Tam is fine thanks." Gascognue looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.  
  
"There are some people who think shortening a name is an insult."  
  
"I don't see it that way, besides I have been in situations where having a long name can be a liability." At that Gascognue turned towards him her eyes lighting up with interest.  
  
"Have you now? That's interesting."  
  
For a moment Tam cursed inside his head. He wondered if he had given too much away, if she would demand to about the situation of which he spoke. But Gascognue just smiled at him before turning towards the door.  
  
"Well now that you are all here, follow me."  
  
They passed through the door and entered an immense room. The room was filled with immense racks upon which equipment of ever shape and size was stored. The racks were more than seven times a normal human's height. Around the room register staff could be seen walking around with hand held data pads. As they watched sections of the racks detached themselves from the walls and moved around the room, revealing other racks packed in behind them.   
  
Gascognue talked to Hibiki as they walked.  
  
"Let's see how you do at managing equipment stocks. What do you think? You will be in charge of dangerous weapons. Isn't that a great job?"  
  
To emphasis the point she pointed at a rack stacked with missiles, bombs and canisters of ammunition for the Dread.  
  
Hibiki looked around the room with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.  
  
"It's not bad but it means going back to the attic."  
  
Tam and Gascognue looked at him questioningly.  
  
"We called the place I worked in on Tarak the attic because it was always dark.  
  
I left because I hated the dark attic, are you telling me to go back to the same place.  
  
Gascognue looked at him with a strange expression on her face.  
  
"What do you know." she murmured "You're one of us too."  
  
Before he could ask what she meant he was interrupted by Tam.  
  
"She's right you know little brother, this is a very important job."  
  
Hibiki turned to face the older man.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Tam stood looking around at the register a faraway look in his eyes.   
  
"There's an old saying that I remember about commanders.  
  
It goes 'Amateurs study Tactics. Professionals study logistics'. Do you know what it means?"  
  
Hibiki shook his head.  
  
"In a war. Fighting is almost the easy part. Anyone with the right equipment can fight. But ensuring that everyone has the equipment to fight with, that people have food to eat, weapons to use and medicine to patch them up. That's difficult. Those that fight would not be able to do so, without those that make and maintain the equipment that lets them."  
  
Tam stopped there and seemed to stare into the distance. His eyes had the puzzled look that seemed to come into them after he had spoken about something from his memories. Hibiki stopped considered what Tam had said. He had newer thought about it that way before but it did make a kind of sense. It was then he noticed that Gascognue was looking at Tam. There was a calculating look in her eyes. Hibiki was about to say something when he heard it.  
  
There was a sudden mind wrenching screech. A sound of metal bending and tearing. They all looked up at the source of the sound. High on one of the racks a crate had somehow come loose from its confines and was falling towards the floor. But directly in its path was one of the girls of the register. They called out to her, yelling at her to run and move, but she was frozen with terror, eyes riveted on the massive object falling towards her. Gascognue started to move forward and Hibiki moved with her, but even as they started they knew it would be too late, that they could never reach her in time. Then something crossed their line of sight. An object, moving so fast it was only a vague blur crossed their vision. It sped towards the girl as the crate hurtled down at her and in the moment before it hit the ground threw itself at her moving her out from under the crates path. The crate hit and disintegrated into a shower of metal parts. Hibiki and Gascognue had to put up their arms to shield themselves as the pasts fell around them. Finally when the shower of debris stopped they turned to look.  
  
What had been a two meter squared crate was now a waist high pile of garbage. Hurriedly they climbed over the debris.  
  
The sight that greeted them shocked them for a second. On the other side of the lying face down on the ground was Tamorasp, underneath his body which was curved protectively around her could be seen the girl from the register. For a few moments the girls eyes were glazed over with shock, then she seemed to come to her self.   
  
And noticed that there was a man lying on top of her. An ear piercing shriek rent the air as the girl cried out. She managed to free one of her hands from under Tams body and started to beat against his shoulder at it.  
  
"Stupid man, what do you think you are doing, let me go!"  
  
Tams body seemed to shiver. Then his arms moved up and began to slowly push himself away from the floor. Hibiki moved forward to help Tam get to his feet as Gascognue moved forward to help the girl. As soon as she appeared, the girl threw herself into Gascognue's arms and began to cry.  
  
Hibiki looked at her curiously for a moment then turned his attention back to Tam. There was something wring with the older man. His breathing was deep and ragged, his movements slow and painful. He looked like he had run a marathon while out of shape. Hibiki puzzled over that, before the sound of running feet distracted him. A group of other register girls had come rushing to the scene.   
  
They looked around, at the smashed crate, the crying girl and then turned dark glances on the two men. Gascognue's voice cut across their building anger.  
  
"That's enough. There was an accident. The crate fell from its storage block, and Tam pushed Elysia out of its path when it fell."  
  
The girls immediately subsided, some of them with contrite looks on their faces. Gascognue stared at the crowd that had assembled, inspecting it.  
  
"Beatrice, Valoria. Elysia's had quite a shock, take her down to the sick bay and ask the doctor to take a look at her."  
  
Two of the girls immediately came forward and reached out to take the Girl from Gascognue's embrace. As them moved away one stood on either side, supporting her and offering words of comfort.  
  
Gascognue turned to one of the remaining register workers. Sarah, find out what happened to that crate, I want to know why it suddenly fell like that. The rest of you get back to work. All bowed and spoke in the affirmative before heading off to their duties.  
  
When they were gone Gascognue turned back to Tam. "Thank you"  
  
He lifted his head and smiled tiredly. "You're welcome." His breathing was still laboured, but its rhythm was regular now. Gascognue stared at him a wondering look on her face.  
  
"Not that I'm complaining, but how did you manage to move that fast?"  
  
Tam shook his head.  
  
"I don't know." He panted out between laboured breaths  
  
"I saw the girl. Saw the crate falling and suddenly it was like the crate was moving in slow motion."  
  
Gascognue looked at him, for a minute Hibiki thought that she was going to question this further. Then she seemed to come to a decision and shrugged.  
  
"Well, come with me. Lets get you a glass of something to settle you down, and I've got something I meant to show the youngster here."  
  
A few minutes later Hibiki and Gascognue were standing in a small room at the back of the register. Tam sat on a crate, sipping slowly from a mug of something that Gascognue had poured for him and getting his breath back.   
  
Mean while Gascognue had picked up a small white sphere.   
  
As the men watched she placed it in mid air in the centre of the room at let it go. To their surprise it remained floating I the air. There interest was further aroused when an image started to form in the space above the sphere. The image showed a blue at white world hovering in space. Two belts of asteroids circled the world, forming an X shape where they intersected.  
  
"That's Majere the woman' country." Blurted out Hibiki.  
  
"Yes" replied Gascognue.  
  
Tam studied the image as it narrowed in on the asteroid belts that circled the planet and focused on a number of structures (2) at were obviously man made. They were beautiful, gently rounded discs of ivory and brightly coloured lights. There were many disc's linked together by slender ivory bridges. Tall ivory towers studded them. The whole effect was surreal, possessing an almost ethereal beauty.  
  
Hibiki had another way to describe it.  
  
"What's this? Looks a little unnecessarily flashy and all." Tam winced at Hibiki's choice of words but Gascognue seemed undisturbed.  
  
"Yes, flashy and pretty and clean. But that's only on the surface. The country Majere is where everyone gets along and has fun. But that's only superficial. Women have what is called "vanity".  
  
The image shifted to close in on the towers showing them to be covered in lights.  
  
"Everyone wants their 'garden' to look better than their neighbours. The elders of the first and second generations most of all. Thanks to that they're wasting energy. It got so bad that they had to shut down one of the residential units to divert the power. "   
  
The lights on the towers died suddenly, leaving them looking cold and dead.   
  
"Our boss was one of those that lost her home. After that happened she started up the pirating business. She gathered up others like her, who had either lost there homes or didn't fit into Majere's society and made a new home for us here."  
  
The image now cut to a vision of the old pirate ship before it merged with the Ikazuchi to become the Nirvana. It showed the ship and its crew going about their violent business.  
  
"There's no Male or Female in piracy. You barely escaped from death you know. If we had been Majere's elite army you would have died before you even had a chance to bark."  
  
Hibiki gulped at the image of floating globules of blood and dismembered limbs.  
  
Suddenly Gascognue pushed him forward through the image and grabbed the sphere out of the air in one easy motion.   
  
"Here. Since you don't have a place to go you're one of us. The rule here is you don't work you don't eat. You can bark all you want but before that work."  
  
"So why me?" Hibiki moved forward crossly only to be halted as a squigymop was waved in his face.  
  
"Smile, smile." said Gascognue.  
  
With a grimace Hibiki reached out to grasp the mop. "Fine" he said and then moved away to start cleaning the other compartment as indicated by Gascognue.  
  
Satisfied Gascognue turned back to the rooms other occupant. "So did you find that interesting?"  
  
Tam smiled at her over the rim of the cup he was holding. "Very, there were a lot of messages tied into that little presentation. Were they all for the lads benefit or partly for me?"  
  
Gascognue smiled back at him. The boss had been right, this one was sharper than he appeared.  
  
"A little of both to be honest. What do you think was the most important one?"  
  
Tam paused before answering. "That all of you, all of the women have already lost one home, and that this ship is your home. Which means that you will defend it as such."  
  
Gascognue closed her eyes and nodded once, slowly. "The boss thought you might be more perceptive than you let on. I guess that means you also know why I showed you some of those other images."  
  
Tam nodded. "To see if it rekindled any other memories."  
  
"Other memories?" Gascognue spoke quickly her tone betraying her interest.  
  
Tam spoke slowly and carefully. "The captain would want to know if I remembered anything of who I was or where I came from. In truth some memories have been returning to me while I have been here. Sometimes its information, knowledge or just sayings. Other times its images of places and people. But as yet they don't seem to make sense. Some of them seem to conflict with others. I didn't want to mention them until I had had a chance to sort them out for myself. I feel I still need more time."  
  
Gascognue looked thoughtful before answering. "Alright if you need more time that's the way it is. But if you do know anything you had better let the Boss know."  
  
"I promise." They smiled at each other briefly, just before alarms started to howl through the ship.   
  
Elsewhere and Earlier:  
  
On the bridge of the Nirvana a red icon suddenly appeared on the long range scanner display. The dark skinned bridge technician reported from her console.  
  
"Enemy detected. Distance 3000GR. They're approaching at great speed. "  
  
From her command chair Magno muttered. "They're not giving us a rest. How many?"  
  
"Just one. Distance 2500GR."  
  
Magno looked down at a communication panel "Hey bro, its your turn."  
  
Down in his quarters Bart was rudely awoken from his slumber by the call. Quickly he made his way to the bridge.   
  
He made it through the doors just in time to here.   
  
"Distance 1800GR"  
  
"Show us what you've got" called Magno  
  
"Don't worry I'm good at running away." Called Bart over his shoulder before he sank into the control pool.  
  
"Indeed" commented Magno dryly.  
  
The Nirvana suddenly increased its speed and curved its trajectory to dodge past the enemy unit, which promptly set off in pursuit.  
  
The Nirvana sped away, Bart pushing the ship to full thrust. Despite this the enemy ship seemed to easily overtake them, and placed itself once again directly in their path.  
  
Bart was forced to stop. He tried to move the ship laterally from side to side, hoping to find a clear way to slip past. But the enemy ship always moved seemingly effortlessly to block them.   
  
They could see the ship now. It was an irregular, purplish sphere, dotted with rounded protrusions.   
  
"Unidentified object is holding its position and relative distance."  
  
Magno barked commands from her chair. "Bart hold the ships course steady. Meia, launch the dreads! Enter combat!"  
  
"Understood"  
  
Below in the dread bays technicians were already preparing the fighters for launch.   
  
Already in her dread Meia issued orders to her squadron "We'll try the formation attack. Everyone keep on your toes.   
  
Back in the register Hibiki surged out of the door to the back room, his register clothes discarded.   
  
"Yosha! We're launching."   
  
His headlong rush was abruptly caught short as a hand grabbed the back of his shirt.  
  
Gascognue held him up before her an exasperated look on her face.   
  
Tam standing at the back was quite impressed. Granted Hibiki was pretty small. But it would still take a fair bit of strength to hold him up by one hand like that.   
  
Meanwhile the register was full of activity as dread pilots placed their orders and register staff rushed to see them filled.   
  
"Helpers, don't fight."  
  
Gascognue dropped Hibiki in a chair and then with a flick of a switch activated a set of restraints to hold him in place.   
  
"What!. What is this? Hibiki protested loudly.  
  
"Why don't you just watch our work today? Got it?"  
  
There was a muffled snort from the door way as Tam struggled to contain his laughter at the sight. Gascognue turned to him with a smile.  
  
"Now are you going to settle down and watch or am I going to have to do the same to you."  
  
Tam smiled. "Tempting, but I was going to ask you if I could return to my repair crew. If there's any damage they might need my help."  
  
Gascognue looked thoughtful. "I suppose that's true, but you'd better make sure you come back, we still have to finish our discussion."  
  
"I wouldn't dream of missing it." Tam said with a smile. Then just as he was about to move away his attention was diverted. Reaching down to a large pile of old equipment near the door he pulled a large object from the pile. It was a sledge hammer. The hammer had a large head made out of dark metal. One head was flat the other sharply pointed. The handle was made out of a lighter metal, with dark grips of some synthetic at the base and the middle of the handle. The whole thing was coated in dust. Tam looked at it thoughtfully for a minute, then turned and showed it to Gascognue.  
  
"Hey! Do you mind if I take this with me when I go?"  
  
Gascognue looked surprised. "What's that? One of the old tools from the men's section. Why do you want it?"  
  
"I don't know, but I have a feeling I might need it soon."  
  
Gascognue paused then shrugged. "Fine take it, but make sure that you don't damage anything with it."  
  
"Nothing that doesn't need damaging." As he moved to leave he called over his shoulder to Hibiki.  
  
"See you later little brother, have fun."  
  
"Tam! Wait. Stop. Get me out of here. Tam. Tam!"  
  
In other sections of the register, dreads were loaded and prepped for launch.   
  
At the bottom of the Nirvana, the hanger doors opened wide to release the ships deadly brood at the enemy ship in their path. Dread fighters swarmed out, deadly jewels in the night.  
  
Out in space the dreads assumed their formations in front of the Nirvana and prepared to close in on the enemy.   
  
"Dread team set up complete"  
  
On the enemy ship there was no sign of activity. But that didn't mean it was any. On board sensors scanned the emerging craft, sorting through each of them. There, three of its primary objectives had been identified. The fourth was not present, but that could be in its favour. Its requirements met, the enemy ship proceeded with its orders and moved to close in on the Nirvana.  
  
Suddenly ass it approached, long purple tentacles emerged from the rounded protrusions that dotted its surface. For a moment they seemed to quiver like living things. Then they hardened, becoming a series of jagged blades that surrounded the sphere.  
  
Some of the female pilots where shocked at the appearance of the craft.   
  
"What! We're supposed to fight that."  
  
In her dread Meia remained impassive.  
  
"Calm down Jura. Team leader to dreads. Check formation. All teams commence attack"  
  
A chorus of affirmative sounded across the net as the dreads dove in to attack. They moved in complex twisting formations designed to make it hard for an enemy to target them. The upon reaching optimum range each dread released its loan of missiles at the enemy.  
  
But this enemy had its own counter. The blades on its surface began to rotate in their sockets. As the missiles homed in each contacted with the blades and exploded prematurely inflicting no damage on the enemy ship.   
  
Confused reports came in from the dread pilots. On the bridge of the Nirvana, Buzzum the subcommander moved to sit at her console.   
  
"Its been observing and analysing us. It must have finally thought of a way it feels it can finish us off."  
  
Suddenly the sphere surged forward at the Nirvana.  
  
"We're coming in contact."  
  
'Hey Bro!"  
  
"I know." Yelled Bart as he desperately tried to swerve the ship to dodge the attack.   
  
He was only partly successful. Although it missed the main portion of the ship it succeeded in striking the rear module at the back of the ship. As it passed it noted that the ships armour had been pierced. Complying with another order of its mission it released a number of cylinders before speeding on its way. These cylinders moved quickly, plunging into the damaged areas of the armour and penetrating through.  
  
But in the confusion of the fight, then went unnoticed.  
  
The bridge was filled with Barts cries. His link to the ship meant that he felt the damage like physical pain.  
  
"Rear armour damaged." Ezera reported  
  
"Closing off each section." Responded Buzzum.   
  
On the display the enemy could be seen as turning to follow the fleeing Nirvana. The dread fighters positioned themselves to intercept it.  
  
"Dread fighters, ammunition 85% left."  
  
In space the dreads proceeded with their strikes. Sending wave after wave of missiles at the attacking sphere. But the sphere just flew straight into their attacks, apparently undamaged. While the dreads were forced to pull away from the sphere and circle back to avoid a collision.  
  
In her cockpit Meia grimaced. This thing was too fast and they weren't even able to touch it with their missiles. Suddenly Ditas face appeared on her cockpit display.   
  
"Leader lets call Mr Alien."  
  
"What! No. Have you forgotten that he's a man and an enemy?"  
  
Dita persisted. "But he's a good Alien."  
  
"Don't depend on another's strengths. One has to get through her own crisis by herself." Said Meia as she sent another volley of missiles at the sphere. But again these were exploded by the blades to seemingly no effect.  
  
The dreads were now running low on ammo. In her dread Barnett noticed that she was almost out of missiles.   
  
"Miss Gasco, delivery please."  
  
In the register operators were once again busily at work. Orders for ammunition and fuel were received from the dread pilots. These were passed to the store room where crates of ammo and fuel were loaded into the delivery ship.   
  
In the register Hibiki had been watching the battle unfold. His frustration building.  
  
"What are they doing… no not like that."  
  
One of the staff reached out to pass Gascognue the deliver list. Just then the entire ship shuddered as the sphere struck again, this time striking the top armour.   
  
The dreads followed after it blazing away with missiles and guns. But they had to be cautious. The sphere was now trying to strike them as they passed by. The blades changing and growing to follow their targets. Several dreads had been disabled by the blades though none had been destroyed, but it was only a matter of time.   
  
In her cockpit Meia tightened in concentration.   
  
"I wont lose. I don't need help from any man."  
  
In the register, Hibiki strained against his restraints.  
  
"Come on. Release me!"  
  
To his great surprise, they restraints suddenly fell away. He looked up as Gascognue held out her hand to him.  
  
"Come on I'll show you the job of a helper."  
  
On the top hull of the Nirvana a section of the hull suddenly moved upwards. With a sudden burst the beetle shaped delivery ship separated itself from the ship and moved into the fray.   
  
Hibiki was forced back in his seat from the G forces. They passed wreckage from crippled dreads as they closed in.  
  
When Gascognue reached the waiting dreads and slowed to a halt.  
  
"Ok guys all at once now."  
  
Massive robotic arms swung out from below the delivery ship, taking hold of the waiting dreads and bringing them in close.   
  
"50 seconds and counting."  
  
Below another series of arms commenced reloading and refuelling the depleted dreads. On board the delivery ship, the green icons representing the dreads quickly filled with red.  
  
"15 seconds now."  
  
"Look Out!" yelled Hibiki  
  
Gascognue swerved the delivery ship managing to bring its heavy top armour in the path of the spheres spinning blades just in time. The sphere spun away, but instead of proceeding to attack the Nirvana, it came back for another pass at the delivery ship.  
  
As the cockpit shook from the second attack Hibiki exclaimed in surprise.  
  
"This is a helper's job!"  
  
Gascognue shrugged and smiled. "Like I said a pilot doesn't fly by herself."  
  
Suddenly the console chimed.  
  
"Delivery complete. Everyone go."  
  
The dreads shot away in separate directions at the sphere started another attack.   
  
It was then that Hibiki noticed another flashing light on the console.   
  
"Hey there's another one left.  
  
"Oh yes that's right. I brought that too. It'd be a waste not to use it."  
  
After a final attack from the sphere on of the cargo bays on the delivery ship yawned open and out stepped Hibiki's ivory and Gold Vanguard. Hibiki wasted no time in punching the thrusters and rushing into the fray.   
  
The dread pilots noticed the new arrival too. Dita reacting with a glad cry. The others with less enthusiasm.  
  
Hibiki brought the vanguard straight at the sphere, determined to charge right at it. The sphere had other ideas. A volley of crystalline bolts suddenly flew at the Vanguard, one impaling it in the shoulder. Hibiki bellowed in outrage and tried to resume its charge. But the vanguard refused to respond, remaining frozen in space.  
  
Dita seeing her chance sped at Hibiki determine to once again cause the two units to unite. But as she approached Meia shouted out a warning as the sphere fired another volley of shots. Desperately Meia dived in their path trying to confuse the sphere's aim. She was partly successful. Dita was able to break away and avoid the spears. But Meia's dread was grazed by the projectiles and she found herself dead in space. Right in the path of Hibiki's Vanguard. At that moment a great rarity occurred. Both these consummate individuals were thinking exactly the same thing. That they would not lose to something like think. So when Hibiki's Vanguard suddenly surged forward it nearly collided with Meia's dread with very surprising results.  
  
Suddenly a panel opened it the top of Meia's dread. The Vanguard dropping into it like it like it belonged their. Once it was in place, two of the wings dropped down becoming long taloned arms. From the central structure another panel emerged becoming an avian head. Where once there had been a slender starfighter, now lay something like a high-tech bird of prey. Vandread Meia.  
  
In space the dread pilots started in amazement as they witnessed another startling transformation. The bridge crew had similar reactions. However not everyone was so impressed with the new situation.  
  
Meia shook herself only to be greeted by the sight of Hibiki sprawled face first in from of her over the control panels.  
  
Hibiki suddenly leaned back, only to rebound against Meia's chest, shocking both pilots.  
  
"What is this?" Hibiki yelled out as Meia attempted to push him away.  
  
"What are you doing here I don't need your help! Get out!"  
  
"I would if I could" protested Hibiki as he attempted to push back.  
  
A sudden series of explosions sent him sprawling again.  
  
Meia was able to just barely swerve to avoid another volley of the crystalline lances from the sphere.  
  
"This is no time for fighting with each other." Panted Hibiki.  
  
The sphere made another slashing run at the Nirvana before setting off to pursue the Vandread. But Meia had a feel for the ship now and dodged with a series of manuvers, the speed of which was incredible to see.  
  
In the cockpit of the Vandread Hibiki looked distinct fully ill.  
  
"My body can't take much more of this" he complained.  
  
"You talk a lot." Shot back Meia  
  
"Leave me alone. Its proof that I'm alive."  
  
"Lets see how long you can talk."  
  
With that Meia sent the Vandread surging forward with a burst of speed that exceeded any previously. It surged towards the sphere. Almost too fast to see.  
  
But the sphere was ready. On its surface its blades quivered and then hardened, before being released in a continuous volley of fire at the approaching Vandread.   
  
Meia spun the Vandread in a series of twist and turns avoiding the incoming projectiles. And then in a sudden burst of light the Vandread was through the fire and behind the sphere. Once again the two pilots thought as one.  
  
"I've waited for this chance."  
  
The Vandread dived at the sphere. As it moved a corona of green energy started to glow around the spike at its head. It pulsed, then flared and the Vandread surged forward. Undeniable irresistible. Too fast to be stopped, it struck the sphere dead on and burst through to the other side leaving an immense shockwave behind it. Then the Vandread came to a halt. The massive blast of the exploding sphere lighting up space behind it.   
  
In the cockpit the two pilots lay sprawled. Panting deeply. Completely exhausted.   
  
"What was that… of all things." Panted Hibiki.  
  
"I didn't think our thoughts would have agreed" responded Meia.  
  
Meia lay breathing deeply for a minute before speaking again.  
  
"You get it now? You couldn't have done it with your Vanguard alone."  
  
"The same goes for you and your dread he responded."  
  
They both lay back to contemplate that.  
  
After the battle back on the ship:  
  
Tam walked easily down the hallway, a bag of engineering tools help in his right hand, the hammer on his left shoulder. He was following a group of the female engineers as they made their way towards the rear portion of the ship. The ships self repair systems had resealed the hull, so Parfet had deemed it safe to send a repair team down to assess the damage. Unfortunately Parfet had put Celeste in charge of the team and unfortunately Celeste appeared to have a dislike of men on par with Barnette's. As soon as they had been out of Parfet's earshot Celeste had let him know in no uncertain terms that she was in charge of this team and that he would obey her orders. Tam had simply responded with a yes and asked her what she would like him to do. Celeste had stepped back looking flustered obviously taken aback at the lack of protest. She had then angrily yelled for him to carry the equipment before stalking down the hallway. Some of the others in the team had looked at him with sympathy or with friendly smiles before following. So now he trotted behind the rest half listening to their talk about the last battle and the new amazing transformation that had taken place. He was only half listening because he probably had a better idea what had happened then they did. Near the end of the battle, right when Meia and Hibiki formed the Vandread he had been aware of it. He had felt them both in the back of his mind. Only vaguely at first but then stronger and stronger he had felt what they were thinking and what they had been doing. He had no idea why he should be able to do this. It awakened no memories of training, like the incident in the waste water plant had awakened the memories of Shub. But it did bring a word to mind. Esper.  
  
Humans with extra sensory perception. People able to read and hear thoughts, or manipulate natural forces and physical objects through will alone. The thought chilled him. People didn't like esper's, they hated the thought of people being able to look into their minds. How would the crew react if he was an esper? But was he?  
  
Esper's were able to read thoughts, so why could he only hear Hibiki and Meia, and why only when they were together. The link had been severed as soon as the Vandread separated, to Tams relief. He pondered the question as they walked.   
  
They were at the final airlock to the rear section when it hit him. For the past few minutes something had been bussing at the back of his brain. He had thought it hight be a headache but he felt that the buzzing was familiar. He almost felt that he could understand it, like a once learned language that hovered just beyond his ability to remember. But it remained gibberish. Then when they were at the door he recognised it. Not the words but the type of communication. Machine code, separate units communicating together. Shub had used it to send commands to its remote units and had taught it to him so he could use it as well. But he had seen no signs of Shub here and the only other machines. Realisation struck his brain at the same moment as Celeste reached the door controls.  
  
"Celeste Stop!"  
  
The engineering crew looked at him in puzzlement as Celeste turned to stare with anger.   
  
"I told you man. I give the orders not you!" And so saying, she hit the door open control.  
  
The screams of the engineering crew caused he to spin round again. In the doorway stood a machine. It had a stubby insect like body, with four short legs. Its central carapace rose up chest like from the body, connecting to a round head with a single large green eye. Attached to the chest were a pair or arms that ended in wicked pincers. It was red. The same shade as freshly spilled blood. Others could be seen in the corridor behind it. Celeste started to scream as the machine reached for her with a pincer arm.  
  
Suddenly a hammer smashed the machine in the chest throwing it back through the doorway. Tam grabbed Celeste and threw her away from the door before slamming down the emergency close control. The heavy bulkhead doors thudded shut.   
  
Tam wearily moved back from the doors watching them carefully.  
  
SLAM   
  
Something heavy hit the doors form the other side. Already there were dents in the door. Some one screamed. Tam turned.  
  
"RUN. BACK TO THE OTHER AIRLOCK"  
  
None of them had a problem obeying this order from a man.  
  
They pelted down the hall to the next bulkhead. As soon as they were through Tam slammed his palm against the door close button. Some of the crew kept going, running back to the main section of the ship. He let them. Others including Celeste stayed behind. Tam turned to one of them passing her the equipment bag.   
  
"Louise, get out the arc wielder and start sealing that door we have to try and slow these things down." The girl wash shaking with shock and fear but she complied.  
  
Tam turned to the others. The rest of you, get back to the main section. Find a communicator and let the bridge know what's happening. Tell them to get a security detail down here with heavy weapons to stop these things. The others nodded and started to move before Celestes angry voice froze them.  
  
"Just a second who the hell do you think you are to give orders? I'm in charge."  
  
SLAM   
  
A massive impact shook the door. Louise stumbled back, the arc welder still in her hands.   
  
"That's enough Louise. Get back to the next bulkhead try to seal that."  
  
"Are you nuts." Yelled Celeste. "We wont have time."  
  
"I will buy you the time."  
  
Celeste looked puzzled "What do you mean." Tam raised his hammer.  
  
Celeste looked at it in disbelief. "Are you insane? How long do you think you are going to last with just that?"  
  
"Probably not that long, but that isn't the point. What's eight bulkheads that way Celeste." She looked puzzled, then her eyes widened.  
  
"Yes." Said Tam. Engineering. If they can get to there they can shut down the entire ship. We'd be helpless. And at their current progress they'd get their before an effective defence could be put together. We need to buy time. That's why you are going to seal and reinforce the bulkheads. And I am going to buy you as much time as I can to do that. NOW GO."  
  
At this Louise and the others ran for the next bulkhead. Celeste stayed behind, a strange look on her face. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
"I'm here."  
  
'That's not an answer."  
  
"It's the only one you are going to get."  
  
"Do you really think you can stop them alone? Are you really that arrogant, man?" Tam stared straight into her eyes. "No but maybe I'll hold them long enough."  
  
Celeste stepped back, till confused. The she nodded and turned to go. She gave him a final glance, then ran up the corridor for the next bulkhead.  
  
Tam stood in the centre of the corridor. Leaning on the haft of the hammer. He didn't know why he was doing this. Oh he knew the machines had to be stopped. He had no idea why he thought he could do something about it alone. He only knew that it felt right. Since he had come here so many things had felt wrong. The men and women being enemies. The food. And himself, not knowing who he was. But for some reason, standing here alone, waiting to battle overwhelming enemies against hopeless odds. That felt right. Tam chuckled to himself. Maybe he had been a lunatic in the place where he came from. It would certainly explain a few things.  
  
He hefted the hammer, feeling its weight and balance in his hands. It did not feel familiar. It was not what he was used to. But it felt right. Strong and well balanced it would serve him well. His breathing was deep and even as the bulkhead door was suddenly torn open and the first of the machines started to come through.  
  
The gap was small. Only one could pass at a time. If he could hold them there he had a chance. He started to move forward. And then another memory struck him.  
  
Suddenly he knew just what to do. There were enemies before him and a weapon in his hands. His lips pulled back. Leaving his face locked in a deaths head grin. And using the memories that had unfolded to him he spoke the code word to consciously use what he had unconsciously used before.  
  
"Boost."   
  
Blood thundered through his head and his heart raced. Buried subliminal messages inserted long ago kicked in. Adrenalin, endorphins and other more potent serums flooded his system from special glands, recently regrown. His muscles swelled and his senses blossomed. He was suddenly faster stronger and more efficient in every way. His thoughts were sharp and lightening fast. He burst forward, moving much faster that a human should be able to. And as he charged to meet his enemies, with a rightness that was a certainty a battle cry burst from his lips.  
  
"SHANDRAKOR"   
  
"What" Magno reacted to disbelief to the panicked voice of the tech over the com line. Magno listened as the message was repeated almost incoherently, but this time she got the gist of it. She held up a hand to stop the flow of words.  
  
"The are enemies on the ship. They are headed for engineering. You have sealed the doors to stop them, but they are still getting through. And you need security to stop them?" The face on the comm. Screen nodded frantically.   
  
'Right. BC, assemble a security team, heavy weapons. Lead them yourself, and take Barnette and her collection it may be useful."  
  
The subcommander nodded, then set off urgently speaking orders into her wrist com.   
  
Magno turned back to the image. "Now was there anything else?"  
  
The face again spoke urgently. This time Magno's eyes went wide with shock.  
  
"What! Tamorasp is trying to slow them down alone?"  
  
The face nodded again.  
  
"That idiot man. Why did he go and do that." Magno shook her head. The man was a mystery and could be a danger. But he had accepted her offer to join her crew, and as the captain she had a responsibility to him.   
  
"BC, double-time it. One of the idiot men is in trouble."  
  
In the rear section Tam dropped out of the boost breathing heavily. The exhaustion he had felt earlier was only a small part of what he felt now. That was the price of the boost. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. All that energy had to some from somewhere. All the drugs and subliminal's did was let him draw it from his own body. But he paid for it afterwards. Every muscle and nerve screamed in agony. His body felt like a giant bruise. But it had been worth it. He looked at the smashed remains of the six machines he had dealt with. Initially it had been hard. Even in the boost at first it had seemed like it was all he could do to hold them back. His hammer strikes had staggered them but had been unable to penetrate their armour. Then once again his mind had unfolded as it had that time before in the waste plant. Suddenly it was like he was seeing a cut section of the machines. Showing weaknesses in the armour, vulnerable parts of the joints, and their power plants. After that it had almost been easy. But they had still left their mark. He was bleeding from a dozen minor wounds and long slashes from near misses from the pincers. He felt dead on his feet, but it didn't matter he had won, he had.  
  
Suddenly his head snapped up, the buzzing was back. Louder this time. He looked down the corridor. A Phalanx of the machines were approaching, twenty or thirty strong. Maybe more. He stifled a sobbing gasp. He was already tired. If he used the boost again he might die from it. But then again he would die anyway.  
  
Tam lifted his hammer and sub vocalised the code word. Once again liquid lightening flooded through his veins. He surged towards them hammer spinning in his hands, his battle cry on his lips. "Shandrakor, Shandrakor!"  
  
He struck them full on scattering several with the force of his charge. He was beautify and terrible to watch. He spun and lunged. His hammer spun in his hands as he delivered crushing blows. With his boost enhanced senses he placed the blows just so. Each one crippling or destroying a machine. He was perfectly balanced, he put the full weight of his momentum into each hammer blow, using its force to propel himself onwards. And he weaved between the machines dealing death and destruction. Beautiful and terrible. The machines tried to react, to box him in. But he was in his element now, he was in the dance. And he moved to avoid their blow and their traps even as he beat back against them. But it wasn't enough. Little by little bit by bit blows got through. Each one weakened him slightly. Made him slower more vulnerable. He knew this. He knew he as dying slowly, both from their blows and the fiery hunger of the boost that was eating away at his heat. He knew but it made no difference. Death was also part of the dance, both his enemies and his own. And so he continued. Pulling more and more strength from his weakening body. Refusing to slow down, to give up. Because that was what he was.  
  
Barnette trotted down the corridor. Despite Magno's urging it had taken time, both to assemble the security team and heavy weapons and to reopen the doors that had been sealed. Several of the women including Barnette herself had also complained at going through all this effort for a man. Buzzum had told them to shut up and remember that these were orders from the boss. The women had kept their complaints quieter from that point. But now they were finally there,  
  
Buzzum motioned for the security personnel to take up positions as the doors opened. Barnette crouched down with the others weapon at the ready. Buzzum gave the signal. The doors opened. The security officers tensed and looked out …. Onto a scene of carnage. The floor was littered with smashed machines. Limbs and shattered pieces of armour were everywhere. The larger intact carapaces stood out like islands in a sea.  
  
They looked at each other. "What the hell did this?" someone voiced the thought on everyone's mind. Buzzum waved for quiet and motioned them forwards. Slowly they advanced weapons ready. They moved cautiously around each smashed machine. Looking for signs of activity. But there were none. Finally they came to the ripped bulkhead door and stepped through. One of the officers gasped and raised her weapon, the others followed suit.  
  
Standing in the middle of the corridor was a figure, its back was turned to them. Its clothes were ragged and torn. Their colour could not be determined because everything was deeply stained with blood. Slowly the figure turned to face them. The gasped when they saw it. Its left arm was mangled, crushed and broken. There were deep wounds on its face and hands. The face was covered in blood from a deep scar running from forehead to jaw. It looked dark, terrifying and primal. Then it spoke.  
  
"Hello Barnette, it took you long enough."   
  
Barnette recognised the voice, although it was harsh and dry.  
  
"Tam, what the hell happened to you?"  
  
"Oh, I had a little trouble with our uninvited guests." He said making a sweeping gesture at the broken machines around him.  
  
It was then that Barnette realised something. Whatever these machines were they weren't alive. Which meant they didn't bleed. Which meant that all of that blood was Tam's. Barnette grabbed the communicator at her waist and started yelling for Duero at the same time as Tamorasp collapsed flat on his face.   
  
Later Magno's quarters:  
  
Magno, Buzzum and Gascognue had gathered to review the events of the last few hours.   
  
"So Parfet estimates another week to fully repair the tail section."  
  
Buzzum completed her report and sat back in her chair.  
  
"Thank you BC. Now what about Tam?"  
  
Buzzum sighed. "He's in the medical section. Still in a critical condition. Duero says that he has stabilised him but that it may still be touch and go."  
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
"Other than his external injuries and blood loss, which are in themselves fairly severe, he may lose that arm, the doctor says that every muscle in his body is on the point of collapse."  
  
"What! How?"  
  
"Duero says he doesn't know. Normally this shouldn't be possible, a person should be knocked out by the level of pain that much exertion would cause. He also said that there were incredibly high levels of adrenalin, endorphins and other compounds that Duero couldn't even identify in his bloodstream."  
  
"If the doctor cant identify them then where did they come from?"  
  
"That's the question."   
  
"There's something else. Parfet has started analysing some of the machines that attacked us. Based on what she's been able to determine, none of our standard weapons would have been able to penetrate their armour. But somehow he destroyed thirty of those things on his own with a large hammer. It makes me wonder what else he could do."  
  
They thought about that for a minute, Finally Magno turned to Gascognue.  
  
"So did you learn anything from his visit this afternoon?"  
  
"He said his memories are starting to return. But they're incomplete. He says that so far he only recalls bits and pieces. They have confused him more than anything else.  
  
He said he wanted to sort them out or wait for them to become clear before sharing them. He also picked up the subtle message you asked me to deliver.  
  
"Did he now. What about the incident?"  
  
"With the crate? I don't see how anyone could have moved fast enough to save Elysia from that crate. But somehow he did it. So far everything he has done has helped us, he attempted to act against us in any way."  
  
Magno nodded accepting Gascognue's assessment. Then she looked pointedly at Buzzum.   
  
The subcommander nodded. "I agree that so far he has done nothing against us but that may change when his full memories return. The man is like a Pandora's box. We have no idea what will emerge next."  
  
Magno nodded, accepting their statements without commenting on them. Then she slowly reached into the drawer of her desk and withdrew a small box. Instantly Gascognue and Buzzum sat straighter. The Boss rarely brought out her Tarot deck. It was an almost forgotten art on Majere. Using the cards of fate to catch a glimpse of the future. Slowly almost reverently Magno shuffled the cards. When she was finished she dealt out eight cards from the deck face down.   
  
"The first question, what is he?" She turned over the first two cards. The sword and shield, the protector. The black sword inverted the destroyer.   
  
"Both a protector and a destroyer."  
  
'The second question, what will he be to us?" She turned over the second two cards.  
  
A black warrior with sword drawn, the enemy. A figure holding out a hand, the friend.   
  
"An enemy who will become a friend?"  
  
"The third question, how old is he?" Two more cards. The crone inverted and the child inverted.   
  
"Very old yet young? Something old reborn?"  
  
"The final question, who is he?" The final two cards.  
  
A figure with a bow and arrow. A figure in a black robe holding a scythe.  
  
The hunter and Death  
  
Magno turned to Gascognue and Buzzum without commenting on the final cards.  
  
"We'll keep him as he is for now, but keep a watch on him. That will be all."  
  
A little surprised the two nevertheless got up and said they're goodbyes before leaving.  
  
After they were gone Magno sat and stared at the cards for a long time before finally, almost inaudibly saying.   
  
"A Hunter of Death?"   
  
End of Chapter 3:   
  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
(1) I know that in episode 4 it says one pill provides enough for 300 hour of work time (at least the version I have does) but that seemed completely unrealistic to me. I mean one pill provides enough energy for 12 and a half days! Come on.  
  
(2) I'm not sure if it is ever stated in the series but the impression I got was that the Women live on space habitats because their world is still being terraformed. This is why they have a higher level of technology than the men.   
  
Whew. That was a long chapter. Longer than I expected. Well I hope you all enjoy it.  
  
As always comments and criticism are welcomed. If you don't tell me how can I correct mistakes?  
  
email me at   
  
Oh and don't worry. I don't intend to kill Tam off just yet. Its very hard to kill what he is. And it will only get harder as he remembers more and more of who he is and where he came from.   
  
Until next time. 


	5. VanStaler Chapter 4 Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
VanStalker Chapter 4) Part 1.  
  
Everywhere where the crew gathered on the Nirvana there was chatter. An undercurrent of excited discussion pervaded the entire ship as the crew discussed the results of the last battle. "Did you see the images? Meia's dread and that man's mecha combined!"  
  
"I thought the man combined with Dita's dread?"  
  
"He did, but now he's done it with Meia's as well."  
  
"That's just wrong, combining with men the very idea is sick!"  
  
"But together they did manage to destroy then enemy and save the ship, maybe there's something to this."  
  
Conversations along these lines took place all over the ship to a variety of reactions. But the general reaction was one of confusion. Although they were pirates the women on the Nirvana had all been raised on Majere. Raised to hate all men and know them only as enemies. Now their lives seemed to depend upon working with the four males that found themselves now part of the crew. Some were enlightened by this and started to think of possibilities that had never before occurred to them. Like living at peace with the men. Others confused by the new thoughts sought comfort in their old ways of thinking.  
  
"He's dangerous there is no doubt about it. You saw what he did to those machines. Who can say what he could do to the rest of us." Barnette, Celeste and a group of other women were sharing a table in the cafeteria. Given the lack of activity in the last few days it was unsurprising that Tam's battle was once again the main source of discussion amongst them. By now all of the crew had heard about Tams battle, but most had ignored it. After all the majority of the crew were technicians with little or no experience in boarding actions. They had all seen the images of the dread battle and been awed by it, the news that a man had smashed some machines seemed minor compared to that. Only those who had actually been there, who had seen the smashed remains of the machines could really appreciate the level of destruction that had been visited upon them. And only they could imagine what would happen if that force was turned upon the crew of the ship. "But Celeste, he saved us all. If it hadn't been for him those things would have been able to get to engineering before we could stop them! He saved the entire ship." Louise spoke up. Celeste turned to look at her. "Yes he did. I'm not disputing that Louise, but the very fact that he did only causes more questions. I saw the look in his eyes before we left him there. He was prepared to die, expecting to die. Then suddenly he was able to destroy all those machines. We know that he lost his memories but they are slowly returning. What if that changes him? I'm not saying that he means us harm Louise, at least not right now, but that might change." For the first time Barnette spoke up. "There's something else." The others turned to look at her questioningly. "You said earlier that before you opened the final bulkhead that he called to you to stop." Celeste nodded.  
"So how did he know that the machines were on the other side?" having said this Barnette got up and left leaving may of the others with thoughtful and worried looks on their faces.  
  
At a table close by sat Elysia from the register. She had overhead the conversation from the nearby table and was troubled by it. Troubled because it had concerned the man that had saved her life. She could admit that now. When she had seen the crate falling at her she had, in some part of her mind known that she was going to die. THE thought had frozen her. Then when she had been able to think again she had been lying on her back with the man on top of her. She had reacted the only way she knew, cursing and hitting the enemy that had her pinned. She felt guilty about that now. Men were the enemy, but this one had saved her life. She didn't know how to respond to that. She may have been heartened if she knew just how many on the ship shared her confusion.  
  
Meanwhile Ezera was making her way to the sick bay for another check-up. Ever since Duero had found out that she was pregnant, and exactly what that meant he had insisted on regular checkups so that he could monitor her condition. Sometimes Ezera wasn't sure whether he was doing so just because he was curious about her condition, a condition no doctor on Tarak had been exposed to in the history of the planet, or because he was concerned about her health. Either way Ezera was grateful for his help. This was her first pregnancy and she was feeling very uncertain. Despite the fact that Duero was a man and was having to learn about pregnancy as he went along the doctor had an air of calm and confidence about him that helped to ease her fears. However when she arrived at the medical section she was surprised to find it empty.  
There was no sign of the doctor, or of Paiway the young nurse who had become his assistant. Then Ezera noticed that one of the beds in the section had been enclosed by a white curtain. From behind the curtain there was a fair and regular beep of a machine. Curious Ezera moved towards it.  
"Doctor? Paiway? Is anyone there?" Still calling out Ezera parted the curtains with her hand and stepped inside.  
What she saw very nearly brought a scream from her lips.  
Lying in the bed, surrounded by medical equipment was a figure. It was so covered in bandages that for a moment Ezera had difficulty in identifying it. A blanket covered the body up to the waist. The left arm was folded over the chest, it was completely encased in white plaster. Only a few patches of skin could be seen of the torso, the rest was completely covered in bandages. But it was the face that drew the attention. Only the right half was visible, the left was covered by a bandage that ran from the top of the figures head down to its chin. Somehow the whole effect made the figure seem otherworldly. But as Ezera started at that strange half face she could at last recognise the figure that lay before her. It was Tamorasp, usually called Tam, the man who had appeared literally out of nowhere. Ezera had head the rumours around the ship, had heard that Tam had fought some machines that had boarded the Nirvana. She had heard that he had been injured in the fight, but nothing had prepared her for this!  
Suddenly a hand touched her on the shoulder. Ezera started and almost screamed before she recognised Duero.  
  
"Oh Doctor, you startled me."  
  
"I apologise Ezera." said Duero as he gently lead her away from the sick bed. "I didn't want to disturb my other patient. I didn't mean to startle you."  
  
"Your other patient? You mean Tam?"  
  
"Yes, his wounds are very severe. I don't want to risk him waking up until they have had a chance to heal further."  
  
"What happened to him?"  
  
"Some machines apparently got on board during the last attack. Tam held them off in time for a security detail to be assembled but as you can see he was gravely wounded in the process."  
  
"Oh. Will he be ok?" The doctor sighed deeply and glanced back at the covered sickbed.  
  
"I don't know. His injuries are still serious, only time will tell if he will pull through. Now what can I do for you?"  
  
"Oh, it seems silly now but I thought I would just come down for my check up, but maybe I chose a bad time."  
  
"No no that's fine. Just let me get the equipment ready and we'll start."  
  
So Ezera sat back on the examination table and eased herself into the now familiar routine. But throughout the procedure she found that her eyes were constantly drawn to the enclosed bed in the corner and its single occupant.  
  
No sooner had Ezera left than Duero found himself the recipient of another set of visitors.  
  
"Good evening doctor."  
  
"Captain, Sub Commander, Gascognue. Good evening." Magno stood in the centre of the sickbay, Buzzum and Gascognue standing at her sides. Both her hands were folded over the top of her cane upon which she was obviously leaning heavily. Not for the first time Duero wondered how such an Old and seemingly frail women had become the captain of a group of pirates.  
  
"I noticed Ezera in the corridor on the way here. I'm glad that you are trying to help her with her pregnancy."  
  
"It's a pleasure to do so. The idea of women gestating children within their own bodies is fascinating." Magno nodded amicably.  
"And what about" she said significantly, lifting up her cane to point at the covered bed. "Your other patient?"  
  
Duero sighed. He had been expecting this, and dreading it. Part of him wanted to conceal what he had found from her. After all Tam was a man and he couldn't be certain how they would react to what he was about to say. But on the other hand she was the captain of this ship. The lives of everyone before were her responsibility and she had the right to know about anything that might affect them.  
  
"Come and see." He said leading them over to the bed and drawing back the covers. Magno and Gascognue gasped in shock at the extent of the wounds revealed, the subcommander said nothing, but Duero saw he eyes widen briefly.  
Recovering Magno stepped closer until she stood at the side of the bed.  
  
"Poor boy to go through so much. I'm surprised he's still alive."  
  
"I'm not surprised" said Duero. "I am astonished." The others turned towards him in surprise.  
"What do you mean doctor." Asked Gascognue.  
"I mean that according to everything I know, everything I was taught that he should be dead after what he went through."  
  
"I didn't think he was that badly wounded." Duero shook his head.  
  
"The wounds weren't deep but several of them cut through major arteries. By the time they got him to sick bay his blood pressure was so low I was certain that he was going to die. He simply didn't have enough blood left in him to keep his body going. In addition every muscle in his body was strained to the point of tearing. It was like he had almost torn himself apart doing whatever it was he was doing. By all rights his body should have just given out after the strain it had been under."  
  
The others absorbed this for a moment before Magno spoke. "B.C. mentioned that there were large quantities of drugs in his system, some of unknown to you. Could any of these have kept him alive?"  
  
"Undoubtedly they did. The massive quantities of adrenaline in his system would have kept his heart going, and the endorphins would have blocked out much of the pain. As to the others I don't know what they are but I have been able to identify the function of several of them. One is a highly effective clotting agent. It works so well that any shallow cut and most deep ones will scab over and stop bleeding in a manner of seconds. Unfortunately in Tam's case several of the cuts he suffered were too deep for it to work. Some of the others appear to be a kind of enzyme that when released rapidly converts undigested food and fat reserves into energy. Most of the others I haven't been able to identify yet."  
  
BC was frowning thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea where he could have acquired these chemicals or where he could have manufactured them?"  
  
Duero gave a rueful laugh. "I have no idea how he manufactured them, but I know where they came from. He generated them within his own body!"  
  
The three women stared at him in shock. Gascognue was the first to recover. 'What do you mean he generated them within his own body?"  
  
"Let me show you." Duero turned to a consol and started typing in commands. Soon after a view screen lit up on the wall above Tams bed. It started with an image of his body, then revealed what was underneath the skin. First the tissues and muscles. Then going deeper until the internal organs could be seen. The women grimaced a little at the unsavoury sight but made no other reaction.  
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking at doctor?"  
  
'These." Duero typed in more commands and the view screen split into four smaller screens each of which zoomed in on a small organ located in separate areas of the body. One just below the brain. Two near the heart and the last lower in the torso. Although they varied in size and shape there was an obvious similarity between them.  
"From what I can tell these are glands of some kind. Each of them appears to produce and store a variety of chemicals. It appears that at some kind of command from the body they are able to release those chemicals directly into the bloodstream, spreading them quickly throughout his body."  
  
"I didn't know men had organs like that" commented Gascognue.  
  
"We don't. I have never seen or even heard of anything like these before. And the organs do not match the rest of his body, they are different somehow. Although I haven't been able to determine in exactly what way."  
  
"I thought you said when we first found him that he was completely human. That there was nothing unusual about him."  
  
"That's right subcommander."  
  
"So how did you miss this?"  
  
"I didn't Subcommander, when I examined him for the first time these things were not there." Duero called up another section of screens. "These are the images I took of his body when I examined him for the first time. As you can see the organs are not there."  
  
"Then where did they come from"  
  
"I can only think of two possibilities. Either they were somehow implanted on him some time in the last few weeks, which seems unlikely. Or.."  
  
The doctors voiced trailed off. "Or?" Magno prompted him. Duero stared down at Tams silent form a troubled look on his face.  
  
"Or he somehow grew the organs within himself within the last few weeks. And that is even more ridiculous."  
  
Magno spoke up again. "This isn't the first time our new guest has done something unusual." Duero looked at her questioningly.  
  
"That incident in the treatment plant, you remember? When we rushed you there with an emergency call."  
  
Duero nodded. "Yes you were concerned that he might be suffering some ill effects from the fumes in the chamber. But when we got there he appeared to be fine."  
  
"Yes he was fine, but again he shouldn't have been." Duero and the others looked at her questioningly. So Magno explained Parfaits findings, how she was convinced that the toxic air in the plant should have killed him within two hours and how there had not been sufficient air in the tanks to last the entire time he was in there.  
  
Gascognue interjected "But couldn't he have used the air in shifts to avoid the worst of the poison?" Magno nodded "That may have worked but that's not what he did. Parfait's crews checked the tanks, only half an hour of air had been used. That means he would have been exposed to those gasses for at least five and a half hours. After that long the cumulative poison should have killed him, but somehow it barely even affected him."  
  
Duero stared at Magno silently for a moment, then he appeared to come to a decision. "There's something else you should see." Once again Duero called up an image on the screen, this time he focused in on Tams injured hand. Duero manipulated the image until it was in x-ray mode. Soon only the stark white outlines of the bones appeared against a black background. Once again he zoomed in on the image until thin hairline cracks could be seen on the bones of the arm. "That doesn't look too bad doctor, I thought you said that he was in danger of losing his arm?" Interjected Buzzum.  
  
"This is the current state of his hand subcommander. This is the way it appeared a few days ago when they brought him in." Another image now appeared on the view screen. This one was vastly different. Many of the bones were bent and twisted in odd directions. Some were plainly broken in two while others had chunks missing out of them, a few of which could still be seen on the x-ray.  
  
Gascognue broke in "You mean after just a few days."  
  
"Yes" Duero interrupted. "He has managed to heal what should have been a crippling injury in just a few short days. In another day or two his bones should be completely healed. Something that even with Majere's advanced medical treatments, should have taken months or even years. And it's not just his bones. His muscles have also started healing and are almost back to normal.  
  
"Do you have any idea how he is doing this?" asked Magno.  
  
Duero waved his hand at the tubes and machines attached to Tams body. "The drips I have him on a basically a broken down solution of our food pills mixed in water. There are enough nutrients in one of those packs to keep a man going for a week. He has been consuming an average of four a day! Somehow his body is absorbing and processing the nutrients at an incredible rate."  
  
"Could it be the drugs in his system?" asked Gascognue.  
  
"No. The drugs are helping his body process the nutrients into energy, but the body is also repairing itself at an incredible rate. Within a day or so he should be completely healed of all his physical wounds. Which leaves you with a decision to make Captain."  
  
Magno looked at the doctor in surprise.  
  
Duero stood there a moment an uncomfortable look on his face. Finally he faced Magno, but he kept his head down as if addressing the floor.  
"I don't know why Tam hasn't regained consciousness yet, but I assume that he is currently so exhausted that he has effectively fallen asleep until his body recovers. So if any action is to be taken against him it had best be now."  
  
The women were now starting at the Doctor in shock, but he continued unseeing.  
  
"When you asked me to take over as the doctor of this ship I swore I could do so to the best of my ability and devote myself to the wellbeing of the crew.  
Part of that duty is to inform you of any potential threats."  
  
"And you see Tam as such" asked Magno in a quiet voice. BC and Gascognue immediately stared at Duero a questioning look on their faces.  
  
Duero continued to speak, his head still turned to the floor. "The fact of the matter is that I don't know. Scientifically he is an impossibility. The speed with which he has managed to heal himself defies belief. Part of me is glad that he is going to be ok. Another part of me is worried at what else he might become. If he has grown those organs since he first appeared, then how else may he change the longer he stays with us?"  
  
Gascognue narrowed her eyes and gave Duero a puzzled look. "Why tell us this, I thought he was your friend?"  
  
This time Duero's head jerked up. His eyes locked on Gascognue's and blazed hotly.  
"He is my friend. But I am the doctor of this ship. As such I have a duty to tell the captain of any potential dangers."  
  
"And you have now done so." Said Magno. "Thank you doctor." The small old woman in the drab brown bent over the prostate form of the wounded man. Gently she lifted a hand and cradled the side of his face.  
"He didn't have to fight that day. He could have run and left them for us to deal with, but he stayed and honoured the agreement we made. For better or worse Doctor, he, you that kid, even that annoying pilot are all members of this crew now. And I won't do anything harmful to one of my crew members unless they give me a reason to do so. "  
  
Duero signed and straightened his relief apparent. "Thank you Captain."  
  
Magno smiled as she turned to walk away. BC and Gascognue moving to flank her.  
"You have nothing to thank me for doctor. Like you I'm doing my duty to the crew.  
Keep me appraised on his status and let me know the moment he wakes up."  
  
Later that night Duero made his way towards his bunk in the men's quarters. His mind was more at ease now after his conversation with Magno. Not that the entire situation with Tam made him any less uncomfortable, but at least now he had shared his concerns with the captain. As usual Hibiki was waiting for him as soon as he entered the converted holding cells that now served as the quarters for the men.  
  
"Duero! Hows Tam. Has he woken up yet? Is there any change?  
  
When he first heard that the older man was injured Hibiki had rushed to the sickbay and seemed intent on staying there until he got better. Duero had eventually convinced him that he would only be in the way, but only after Hibiki had extracted a promise from him that he would let him know if there was any change in his condition.  
  
"Hibiki, there has still been very little change. His wounds are healing but as yet he hasn't woken up and I still have no idea when he will."  
  
"But he's getting better, like you said. That means that he should wake up soon!"  
  
Duero sighed, he had his own doubts but he couldn't voice them to the boy. "Yes, hopefully he will wake up within the next few days. Until then we just have to wait and see."  
  
"Can I come and see him?"  
  
"Not tomorrow, but by the next day if he still hasn't woken up then yes."  
  
Finally satisfied Hibiki settled down to sleep.  
  
But as he settled down to sleep Dueros' thoughts were troubled. Even in the short time he had been here Tam had formed a strong bond with Hibiki. If he the changes in Tam continued to progress, if they had to defend themselves against him, how would that affect Hibiki. Be honest, he thought to himself, how will it affect you as well. What will you do if this stranger you have come to think of as a friend becomes an enemy?  
  
……………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Later that night all was quiet on the Nirvana. Not silent, for a ship is never truly silent. The thrum of power pulsed through every deck like the steady beat of a heart. And here and there the echoing sound of footsteps as a late shift crewman made their way about their duties. So the ship was not truly quiet, but was perhaps as quiet as an operating ship can be. One of the quietest rooms was the sickbay.  
  
All was dark in the room. Only the dull glows of active equipment and the steady beep of monitors gave any indications that anything was underway. Everything appeared peaceful and serene. Especially Tam, lying in his bed, the steady rise and fall of his chest his only movement. But appearances can be deceptive.  
  
Deep in his mind Tam was anything but peaceful. But then recalling bad memories never is.  
  
The Past. INS BlackSword enroute to Khrishaar Prime:  
  
A feeling of tension crackled through the bridge of the Imperial Starcruiser BlackSword like chained lightening. To an unfamiliar observer everything would have appeared calm. Throughout the huge room that made up the command and control core of the giant starship crewmen sat at their stations calmly fulfilling their tasks. Queries and orders from officers were responded to briskly and professionally. T an unfamiliar observer it would have seemed that everything was normal. Only a veteran would have noticed that the crewmen were focused on their duties with a single minded focus that bordered on fervour. Only he would have noticed that the queries and commands were responded to a little too quickly, a little too urgently. Only he would have noticed the signs of a ship about to go to war, for so it was. The last true war the empire had faced had been 300 years ago, during the great rebellion. When the tyrannical rule of Lionstone the XIVth had been overthrown and a constitutional monarchy put in place. None on the ship had been alive during that conflict. Few of them had ever been in combat. For 300 years the empire had known relative peace. The Imperial navy, once the primary tool of Lionstone's oppression had become the peacekeepers of the empire. Called only for serious police actions or to assist in natural disasters beyond a planets ability to cope with. Now they were once again being called upon to fulfil the purpose they had been envisioned for. They were being called to War.  
  
At his duty station Lieutenant Tamorasp Naghanashar stared at his console and pondered. He was assigned as the deputy damage control officer, the ships executive officer, Commander Calavin served as the primary damage control officer. That meant that he had very little to do until Calavin assigned him any work. Not for the first time he cursed his position. Not the job itself, although part of him wished to be manning the gunnery stations, he was experienced enough to know that when the battle started his job could become just as important if not more so. No it was having nothing to do right now that he hated. It gave him too much time to think, too much time to brood, because once again after 300 years the empire was going to war with itself and a part of him could not accept that. He had sworn the oaths, as had everyone on this ship. To protect the empire and to obey its legal government. Now he was being called on to fulfil those oaths. That should have been the end of the matter, but instead he and everyone on this ship found themselves with a choice to make. Now with nothing to do but think he wondered if they had made the right one.  
A sudden pulse of information flowed through his comm implant interrupted his thoughts.  
Attention, time to emergence 15 minutes, all crew secure for hyperdrive exit. Well this is it he thought, here we go. Another chime sounded. "Attention all hands. This is the captain." Despite himself Tamorasp found his attention turned from the display in front of him and to the man sitting in the command chair in the center of the bridge. Captain Ian Croder. He sat in the command chair like a statue carved from granite. Stiffly upright, his arms lying lightly on the armrests of his chair. The captain was old, his hair liberally streaked with gray.  
  
Croder had been the captain of the BlackSword as long as anyone could remember. He had been given his captaincy long ago, but had never been promoted from it. Some said that was because of his manner. He was a hard task master and a stern disciplinarian. He was also unyielding in the exercise of his orders. Some said he was too much like a captain from Lionstone's time, when captains had obeyed the orders of their commanders no matter what those orders may have been. From the execution of captured prisoners to the scorching of whole worlds. But seeing him sitting there now, calm as if the ship were taking part in an exercise Tamorasp couldn't help but feel glad that if the empire was returning to the times of war then at least they had a captain that would have fitted in with those times.  
  
His attention shifted back to the captain as he started to speak. "Crew of the BlackSword you all know what we are heading into. In less than 15 minutes we will be entering the Khrishaar system. The transmutation board has emplaced transmutation engines over Khrishaar prime. Our orders are to destroy those engines before they can be used on the planets population. Our task will not be easy, forces of the Church Militant and Pure humanity are guarding those engines. But our priority is their destruction all other concerns are secondary. Civilian lives are depending up on it." The captain paused, Tamorasp could see him appearing to consider something for a moment, then he spoke again. "I know some of you have your doubts about the orders we have received. Some of you question whether what we are doing is right. I cannot answer that. But I expect you all to remember one thing. You are all members of the Imperial Fleet. It is your sworn duty to defend all citizens of the Empire and it's allies against all threats, foreign and domestic. We go now to fulfil that oath." Suddenly the captains voiced became animated.  
"For the Honour of the Fleet! In the blessed Owens name!" "For Honour. In his name!" the response chorused out from every crewmember. The ship itself seemed to shake with their intensity.  
  
Captain Croder nodded his head satisfied.  
"Ten minutes to hyper exit, sections report battle stations readiness." Reports flooded in over the comnet as each section and division on the ship reported its readiness. As each report came in it was acknowledged and verbally confirmed to the captain by the Executive officer. This was largely unnecessary, the information could easily have been communicated through personal com implants. But it was traditional, and com implants could break down or be jammed.  
No expression showed on Croder's face, but he appeared to be satisfied.  
"Helm give us the countdown to hyper exit."  
  
The helmsman nodded and the countdown began. His voice echoed throughout the ship. Calm and professional.  
  
"Five minutes to Hyper exist." "Four minutes."  
  
"Three minutes."  
  
"Two minutes."  
  
"One minute"  
  
"Coming up on Hyper exit …. Now!"  
  
Suddenly the entire ship shook and every crewmember felt the gut retching feeling so commonly associated with hyper translation. All of the ships formidable power was temporarily diverted to the stardrive. Massive energies whirled and twisted suddenly creating a portal to bring the BlackSword out of the seething realm of energies it had travelled through and returning it to the material realm, and the hell which awaited it.  
  
It the space above Khrishaar prime brilliant lights, wounds in the fabric of space and time suddenly appeared, and through them like avenging angels poured Starcrusiers of the imperial fleet. As soon as they were through the portals closed, as the enormous energies required to maintain them were abruptly cut off. But more flickered in and out as waves of ships continued to appear. Slowly at first then in greater numbers the massive ships emerged. Five, Ten, Twenty, the number continued to increase until a hundred starcrusiers hung in space just outside the range of Khrishaar prime. They hung there beautiful and terrible to behold. Titanic leviathans of battle steel, their running lights shinning as brightly as the stars around them. At first they appeared disorganised, clustered randomly in no particular order. But as more and more ships arrived communications started to fly and groups started to come together in formations and squadrons. But even as they did so every ship started to move towards the green and orange world that lay before them, and specifically towards the glittering Christmas tree like lights that hung in orbit over it.  
  
On the Bridge of the BlackSword orders and reports flowed back and forth between the bridge officers and the captain.  
  
"Plotting confirms we have entered the Khrishaar system, located 50,000 base units from Khrishaar Prime!"  
  
"Plotting set course for Khrishaar prime, least time intercept."  
  
"Engineering, confirmed shutdown of stardrive, diverting power to battle operations."  
  
"Engineering, prioritise power, Manvering, guns and shields. In that order!"  
  
"Tactical, confirming emergence of friendly units, Champion, FarStar, Endeavour and Reliant have emerged."  
  
"Cease the roll call tactical, inform me when the Dutiful Soldier emerges. Until then commence a full scan on Khrishaar Prime. Report on enemy units!"  
  
"Scanning now. Sensors are detecting seven, correction, eight transmutation platforms in geosynchronous orbit over the planet. They appear to be aligned with the major population centers. Also reading twenty starcrusiers in blockade formations around the platforms. Reading additional satellite bodies, possibly weapons platforms. Uploading data to the Tacplot"  
  
In his command chair Croder called up the tactical display and brooded. By spacing out the platforms and splitting their defending forces the opposition would normally have created a perfect target for the fleet to defeat in detail. Bringing all of its forces to bear on the individual platforms to deal with them one at a time. Unfortunately the nature of those platforms made that tactic impossible.  
  
Transmutation was a relatively new technology to the empire. It allowed the conversion of matter into new forms. Asteroids rich in heavy metals could be easily converted into machinery and equipment for use by the citizens of the empire. But there was a darker side to the technology. On a low power setting transmutation machines could also be used to break the bonds that held living beings together. A single transmutation platform could turn the population of a city into a sea of primordial soup in bare seconds. Ten of those platforms could exterminate all life on a planet within minutes. The use of transmutation machines against living beings was outlawed within the empire on pain of death, the transmutation board was supposed to regulate and monitor the use of the machines. But now something had gone wrong, and the directors of the board had aligned with the madness that was now sweeping the empire, and it was up to the fleet to stop them.  
  
"Sir, Communications, Dutiful Soldier has emerged, we are receiving orders from the Flag." "Acknowledge and Confirm. Feed the orders to my display!" "Aye, Aye Sir!" Dutiful Soldier was the taskforce flagship. Now that it had arrived and transmitted its orders the battle could begin.  
  
Croder's face was a mask as he read the orders. But if such control wasn't as natural to him as breathing he would have been grinning from ear to ear.  
  
Satisfied he glanced up to give orders to his crew, as he did so even he could not keep a hit of satisfaction from his voice.  
"We have been designated Lead ship of Task force Alpha 5. Our primary target is the platform designated Damocles 3. Communications, orders to the task force, tell them to form up on us, Spear formation.  
Manoeuvring take us in, as soon as the other ships have reached formation go to full military power. Engineering report! "  
  
"Manoeuvring has full power. All disrupter banks fully charged. Shields at 70% and rising, estimate 5 minutes to full power."  
  
"You have four, Bridge out." Croder cut off the comm and took a final look around his bridge, savouring the sight of his crew at their stations, utterly devoted to the task at hand. This was what he had longed for his entire career. For years he had stewed and waited. Bitter that he had never been promoted, grudging the fact that he had never had a chance to prove himself in a real test. Well now the time had come and he was going to show those pansies in command how a true Imperial fleet captain acted.  
"Brace yourselves gentlemen we're going in."  
  
On the surface of the planet, a very different kind of officer stood staring at another display. The display showed groups of flashing lights moving towards Khrishnaar Prime in an englobement formation. He stared at the tacplot with reddened eyes consumed with Hatred. Theodore Elstric was a Justicar of the Church Militant. He had been given command of this taskforce and given the sacred duty of cleansing this planet of the filth that infested it using the holy engines of transmutation. Elstric hated those on the planet with every fibre of his being as he had secretly been taught to do his entire life. But that hatred was nothing compared to the white hot rage he felt at those he saw coming to prevent his holy work. The filth on the planet had at least been born the way they were. But these, for these supposed servants of Humanity to turn against their sacred purpose. For that there was no hell, dark, hot or painful enough to punish them for their betrayal. But nevertheless Elstric looked forward to sending as many of them to hell as possible.  
He could see what they were doing. Their forces were splitting up to simultaneously assault the platforms. Under the circumstances it was a good tactic. He didn't not have sufficient forces to guard the platforms effectively against their attacks. But the lord was with him, and he knew something they did not.  
He turned to an acolyte standing nearby.  
"Ready the signal, the time approaches." The acolyte bowed and moved to obey.  
Elstric turned back to the display, his face fixed in a terrible smile. Soon, it was almost time to unleash the vengeance of the lord on the blasphemers. "Target sighted, five minutes to firing range!" On the bridge of the BlackSword the silence was only broken by the hum of machinery and the regular reports of the bridge staff. They were all now focused on their tasks with a single mindedness that was almost inhuman. Years of training, of practising of waiting were about to come to an end. This was for real. Captain Croder stared at the plot in front of him. Directly ahead hung the transmutation platform designated Damocles 3. Flanking it like a pair of bristling guard dogs were two Starcruisiers, now crewed by either church militant or pure humanity fanatics. A sprinkling of defensive weapons platforms dotted space between the three main targets. Croder couldn't suppress a sneer as he looked at the formation. It just went to show, fanaticism was all very well, but he'd prefer professionalism every time. That formation looked good to someone who had never fought in space. The defenders had made a wall with their defences to protect the platform from attack. That might work on land, but space was a very different environment, and the third dimension it introduced offered all kinds of interesting possibilities. Learning to think in three dimensions was a key requirement for command personnel, an entire year at the academy was devoted to it and now Croder was going to demonstrate why.  
  
"Captain, readings from the platform. They're powering up their systems. Estimate ten minutes before they are ready to fire."  
  
"Plenty of time, order all ships to follow our lead but to hold their fire. We're going to.."  
  
"Captain I'm getting an encoded transmition from the planet."  
  
"Purpose?"  
  
"Unknown, Sir it's heavily encrypted. Attempting to…"  
  
"Captain! The Force shields just went offline!"  
  
"What! Orders to all ships! All stop. Engineering report! Get those shields back up!"  
  
"Sir, we can't! Its not a manual command, the AI's overriding the system!"  
  
Croder growled, then he keyed his comm link and sent a query through the ships computer net. "Malthus report! Why have you shut down the shields?" Echoing silence answered his query. In his command chair Croder grimaced before trying a different tack. "Malthus, priority command override Omega, Delta Tango, Three, Three, Niner. Respond!" Finally a voice responded through the computer net, but this wasn't the rich baritone of the ships AI, it was cold, Harsh and artificial.  
"Imperial Starship compromised, initialising Priority Omega directive, self destruct in process." In his command chair Captain Croder paled. Had they been looking many of his crew would have been astonished at this display of emotion on one whom then had secretly dubbed, Old Granite Face. As it was, his next action was so surprising they almost froze.  
  
Croder's voice suddenly thundered through the all hands frequency, a definite note of urgency in it.  
"All hands this is the captain! Initiate an immediate AI purge. I repeat purge the AI immediately!"  
  
Across the ship crewmen momentarily froze. Shocked at the emotion in their captains normally deadpan voice. Then like the highly trained professionals they were they rushed to obey. With gratifying speed the task was accomplished. All imperial ships had an emergency procedure for purging the ships AI. A legacy from the time when the AI's of Shub were still the official enemies of the empire and a rogue AI was a very real possibility. Even though Shub was no one of humanities closest allies, old paranoia's die hard, especially in the Imperial fleet.  
  
As the crew rushed to obey his command, Captain Croder put through an urgent call to the other units in the task force, informing them that they may have received an encoded self destruct order. Due to his fast actions, the majority of the ships were able to purge their AI's before the self destruct sequence could be completed. But for a few it was too late and the space above Khrishnaar prime was suddenly lit up with two newborn suns as the Glorious Heritage and Pride of Trangoon blew apart.  
  
On the bridge of the BlackSword, every light suddenly went out before coming back up a moment later as the ships computers reset themselves. The bridge was suddenly full of hurried activity as staff threw themselves into their comm implants in a frantic effort to maintain the ships systems. In normal circumstances the ships AI was responsible for performing the thousands of operations each second that were required to keep a starship functioning. Now those functions were being performed by a human crew. It could be done, they had trained to operate under such emergency conditions, but it wasn't something anyone was comfortable with.  
  
In his command chair Croder settled back slightly in relief. "Engineering, do we have shield control back yet?"  
  
"Negative sir. A software lockout is still in place. We have all the power here, but we just can't divert it to the shield systems, something keeps bleeding it away. We're trying to isolate the problem." Croder nodded before turning and speaking to his XO.  
  
"Izikiel, you have more experience with override commands and AI's than anyone else. Go down there and see if you can give them a hand."  
  
"Aye, aye sir." The taciturn XO replied as he got up from his seat. As he made his way over to the bridge hatch the XO took a moment to nod his head at Tamorasp. To Tamorasp the message was clear. He was now the damage control officer for the ship. The thought did nothing to relieve his anxiety.  
  
On the surface of the planet Theodore Elstric wiped the blood from his sword on the sleave of his blood red robe. In the background two monks militant could be seen dragging away the body of the unfortunate acolyte. Thanks the bumbling of that fool the command had been sent too soon, before the Blasphemers fleet was within range of his guns. Even worse only two had succumbed to the self destruct code sent to them, far fewer than had been expected. Still, it was not a total loss. Their shields were still crippled and without them they would not dare assault the fully functioning warships and defensive emplacements that now protected the platforms. Platforms that would soon be ready to fire. A brief smile played over Elstric's thin foam flecked lips. Perhaps it was an appropriate glimpse of hell for the blasphemers to suffer. To see those they had come to save die before their eyes as they stood helpless to prevent him. The thought amused him and soon his high mad cackle could be heard through the corridors of the command centre. On the BlackSword, Captain Croder glared at his communications officer.  
"We're ordered to what!" The officer gulped but replied in a steady voice.  
"Sir, the Flag orders that all ships remain out of weapons range until we can restore full function." "Is the Admiral aware that in less than six minutes those platforms are going to wipe out all life on that planet! The lives that it is our mission to protect!" "Sir the Flag has ordered that we stand down. He says, he says that we cannot risk unnecessary losses of military personnel."  
  
Croder turned stone faced and glared at the view screen. Part of him saw the Admirals point. Force shields were the primary defence of any warship, the only thing that could stand up to concentrated volleys of disrupter cannon for any length of time. Without their shields it would be suicide for the fleet to attempt to continue with their mission. But to not attempt it would me the deaths of billions of innocent civilians. Civilians that as members of the imperial fleet they were sworn to protect with their lives. Croder had never considered himself to be an ideal captain. He had heard the gossip about how he was like a relic from LionStone's time. And part of him agreed with them. Part of him felt that he would have been more comfortable living in the old days. But although he may have been far from ideal in many ways, Ian Croder knew his duty better than anyone in the fleet.  
He sat up suddenly and stared at the bridge crew. They were all looking at him, and in their eyes he saw their silent question. What would the captain do? He knew what his orders were, and he knew what his duty was. But would the crew see it in the same way? Only one way to find out.  
  
"Manoeuvring."  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Override the safety interlocks. Dump the excess power from the shield lines to the main engines. I want you to feed as much power to the propulsion systems as they can bear without exploding and I want you to send us straight at the primary target!"  
  
Croder saw a tight fierce smile on the helmsman's face before he turned away.  
"Aye aye Sir!"  
  
"All hands, man your battle stations, prepare for Action!"  
  
And throughout the bridge of the BlackSword Croder could head the sound of hurried activity as his crew rushed to fulfil his orders and follow his lead.  
The captain sat back in his chair and smiled. They were going in.  
  
On the bridge of the Dutiful Soldier Rear Admiral Mitchell Haynes frantically monitored the progress of his people. Hayes was a career fleet officer, of a good naval family. That and his ability to play the political game had ensured his steady rise to the ranks to the position he now held. But right now he would rather be anywhere else than where he was. In less than five minutes the platforms would fire, killing every living thing on Khrishnaar prime. And there was nothing he could do about it. The coded signal from the planet had knocked out the shields on every ship in the fleet. And without shields any attack mounted on the platforms would be in vain, and would only result in the deaths of those under his command. He knew that his career was over, but he could at least preserve the lives of as may fleet personnel as he could ensuring they were.. A sudden call from the tactical officer disturbed his thoughts.  
  
"Admiral, the BlackSword is making an attack run at Damocles 3."  
  
"What!" Haynes turned to the tactical plot. On it the bright icon that represented the BlackSword could be seen hurtling at its target at an incredible speed.  
  
"Communications. Raise the BlackSword. Order that idiot Croder to pull back outside the range of their guns!" The communications officer nodded and bent his head to his panel. His head remained bowed for several seconds before it rose again.  
  
"No response sir."  
  
"Damned impertinence. Give me a direct line to the BlackSword!  
Captain Croder this is Admiral Hayes, I order you to pull your ship back now. What the hell do you think you are doing?"  
  
Suddenly a voice came back over the com link. "My duty, what you should have known to do."  
  
Admiral Haynes was struck silent, very briefly. "How dare you. Croder, turn your ship around or I will have you Court Martialled, Do you hear me!"  
  
But on the Tacplot the icon representing the BlackSword continued to accelerate. And suddenly it was not alone. Singly at first and then in greater and greater numbers ships began to break away and mimic Croder's mad charge at their targets. This time Admiral Haynes truly was struck speechless. Completely at a loss as to how to deal with the sudden mass mutiny among his command.  
  
In his command post on the surface of the planet Theodore Elstric felt an almost sexual thrill as the timer continued to countdown towards zero. Soon the holy work would commence and this planet would be cleansed, and the Blasphemers were powerless to prevent it. They sat huddled in fear, afraid to come into the range of his.." "Justicar!" The call of an acolyte shattered his reverie. "You dare interrupt my meditations!" The acolyte shrank back bowing.  
"Your pardon Justicar but we have detected one of the infidel's ships making what appears to be an attack run at one of the platforms."  
  
Elstric frowned and turned to stare at the plot. Sure enough one of their ships was moving towards a platform at an incredible speed. Even as he watched others started to break away from the formation surrounding the planet to throw themselves at the platforms, like a swarm of angry insects suddenly brought to a frenzy.  
  
"So some of them at least are warriors. It matters not! Without shields our holy warriors will swat them from the skies before they can harm the sacred platforms."  
  
As Eldric watched the first icon passed the boarder that marked the maximum range of the defending ships and satellites. He smiled with anticipation at its coming destruction. The smile slowly turned to a frown of confusion.  
"Why are they not firing?"  
  
The acolyte huddled in fear. "J..J.. Justicar, they await your order, you have not given the command to engage, ack" A savage blow from Eldric sent the acolyte sprawling.  
  
"Cretins!" roared the Justicar in rage. "Engage engage! Sweep them from the skies. They must not harm the sacred platforms!"  
  
In orbit targeting sensors swept out locking on to their prey, as Disrupter turrets swivelled to bear. And space was suddenly filled with the brilliant discharge of disrupter beams.  
  
Space around the BlackSword was filled with the deadly sparks of disrupter fire. Energy Disrupters had been the standard weapon of the empire for hundreds of years. There was a reason for this despite, their long recharge time (even the most advanced disrupters took at least a full minute to recharge between shots). And that reason was their sheer power. Energy disrupters did just that, they disrupted the molecular bonds that held matter together. No other form of focused weapon had yet been found that was as destructive as a disrupter blast. Only an intact energy shield could deflect a disrupter blast. Armour could only hold against it by being thick enough to absorb the entire blast, and it was destroyed in the process. This meant that the BlackSword could only receive a few such blasts before they started to destroy the internal systems of the ship.  
  
The BlackSword suddenly shook as a disrupter bolt ploughed through its forward armour. In his command chair Captain Croder grinned tightly. "Looks like this pack of amaturers finally noticed us!"  
  
Part of Tamorasp's mind was shocked at the levity in the captain's voice. But it was a very small part. Almost all of his attention was focused on the screen in front of him and the information now pouring in through his comm implant. He was the damage control officer on his ship, and he had a job to do.  
"Forward, starboard armour down to 80%. Bulkheads are holding."  
  
In his command chain Croder nodded briefly acknowledging the report.  
"Good, but we can't take this for long. Manoeuvring, maintain speed but put us into a random corkscrew approach. All hands this is the captain, brace for extreme manoeuvring."  
  
The BlackSword suddenly began to spin on its axis as it hurtled towards its target. Making quick random jinx's to the left and right, but always heading towards its main target. Croder knew that without shields his ship could not survive a slugging match with the defenders of the platforms. But all they had to do was survive to reach the platform. A starcruiser is normally a very large target, but thanks to its extreme speed and the random manoeuvres it was undertaking the crews of the starcruiser's and defensive satellites defending the platform were having trouble hitting it. It was only a matter of time though, and their task would only become easier the closer the BlackSword came. Slowly at first, but then with greater and greater frequency individual blasts found their target. The BlackSword bucked and heaved as the blasts struck home. Armour was shattered and vaporised, exposing the more vulnerable inner sections of the ship. The ships spin made it nearly impossible for the defenders to target specific sections, but they had such a weight of fire they almost didn't need to. Blasts started to penetrate the armour blasting through bulk heads and into the inner compartments. Crew in those compartments were vaporised instantly. They were the lucky ones. Fires spread from the damaged sections, igniting the ships oxygen and spreading through the ship, slowly killing the BlackSword. Tamorasp Naghanashar was one with his console. His every thought was focused on the task before him. Calling out damage reports, organising damage control teams, rerouting power from damaged sections and where necessary sealing and venting those sections to stop the fires from spreading. Had any part of his mind not been fully occupied with his task he may have been grateful, grateful that he did not have time to think of the people in those sections and the deaths he was condemning them to. But he didn't have time to think about that, he was far to busy trying to keep his ship alive.  
  
Tamorasp's voice was a harsh croak as he yelled his report across the bridge. "Primary power is down to 70%. Sensors are down to 75% effectiveness. Port armour is breached in five places. Starboard armour in six. Forward armour is down to 5% with breaches in 8 places. We have lost sections 43 through 51, and 78 through 90. Compartments, 21, 11, 95 and 65 are open to space."  
  
The bridge was filled with smoke from fried circuitry and burning plastics. Some of the crew members sported small cuts and injuries form where panels had shorted out. Captain Croder sat in his command chair looking like it was just another day.  
  
"Report on status of disrupter banks!"  
  
"Port bank down to a hundred and fifty active disrupter cannon. Starboard bank down to one twenty. Forward disrupters are offline."  
  
Croder swore. A starcruiser of the BlackSword's class mounted five hundred disrupter cannons. Two hundred in each broadside bank and fifty mounted forward and aft. They were nearly at half strength in both broadside banks. They couldn't afford to lose many more.  
  
"Tactical, status of target and range!"  
  
"Target has almost completed powering up. Estimate two minutes before it fires .We are currently at long range. But the targeting computers are having difficulty locking on."  
  
"Hold fire until I give the order, then prepare to fire a full broadside into the platform! Manoeuvring any available power we have dump it into the engines!"  
  
"Sir they're already past the red line!"  
  
"Then push them further, if we don't reach the target soon we're dead anyway."  
  
Once more the BlackSword surged forward, exceeding its already considerable speed. Once more the defenders were forced to adjust their fire to compensate for the speed of their target. But there was an extra urgency to their actions now. The target was getting too close for comfort, soon it would pass them altogether. They had thrown everything they had at it but so far it had taken it all and just kept on coming. On board on of the screening starcruiser's the Church militant captain came to a decision and barked out orders to his crew.  
  
On the BlackSword the tactical officer's voice could suddenly be heard ringing out above the whine of the abused engines.  
  
"Captain! One of the screening starcruisers is breaking formation. They're placing themselves broadside on, directly between us and the target!"  
  
"Tactical let me know the instant before they fire. Manoeuvring cut forward engines prepare for full vertical burn!"  
  
"Sir disrupters have locked on us, he's about to fire a full broadside!"  
  
"Vertical burn now!"  
  
The whine of the engines suddenly rose to a scream as power was poured into the vertical thrusters. Just as the church militant ship began to fire the BlackSword suddenly shot upwards like a jack in a box. So sudden was the motion that the majority of the ships fire passed harmlessly below the BlackSword. As soon as it cleared the top of the enemy ship the BlackSword began to accelerate once again. Speeding towards its true target, the platform that now lay undefended before it.  
  
But the church ship wasn't quite finished. As the BlackSword swept past it the captain opened fire with his other broadside. It was fired at point blank range. But the fire was sporadic and badly targeted. Instead of a single focused volley, a flurry of random shots flew out from the church ship, an inexperienced crew's jerky reaction to an unexpected order. That was all that saved the BlackSword.  
  
Fifty disrupter blasts crashed home against the rear of the BlackSword. Only their unfocused aim and the as yet undamaged rear armour saved the ship from complete destruction. Nevertheless the damage was grievous. Explosions ripped through the rear of the ship. Tearing through compartments and ripping through the machinery at the heart of the ship, and striking the already abused main engines. They exploded. Pushed beyond endurance they were already unstable now they vented that fury. Only Tamorasp's quick reactions were able to save the ship. The moment he felt the disrupter bursts impact he acted on instinct. Cutting power to the engines and sealing the compartments without waiting for orders. As a result the explosion from the engines was largely vented to the rear compartments. Even so that explosion shattered the entire rear quarter of the ship.  
  
The BlackSword bucked like a harpooned whale. Without engines it ceased to accelerate. But its own inertial kept it going and thrusters flared along the ship as the manoeuvring officer desperately tried to bring the ship back on course.  
  
The bridge was a scene from hell. The room was filled with smoke. Half of it was now in the dark. Around the once impeccable room consoles were smashed and broken where power surges had caused blow outs. Some of those consoles were also splattered with blood and body parts of the crew that had manned those consoles. No medics were available to treat the crew, they were all too busy elsewhere. So the survivor's pushed away their dead and struggled to keep their ship going.  
  
Captain Croder stood leading on the wreck of his command chair. Blood poured down his face from a shallow cut. The main view screen was gone, shattered into a million pieces, but the comms still worked, and Croder could use his comm. implants to access all the information he needed.  
  
Through his implants he could see the platform before him. Through his sensors he could feel it powering up. It was almost ready to fire now. But so was he.  
  
"Damage report!"  
  
Tamorasp brushed blood out of his face and coughed to clear his throat.  
"Engines are gone. Rear section is gone. Engineering is offline as is the main power plant. The secondary is at 70% and dropping. Remaining disrupters are fully charged, but we will only have enough for one shot. Sensor efficiency at 50%."  
  
"Tactical, range to target?"  
  
No response  
  
"Tactical!"  
  
"He's dead sir."  
  
Croder cursed and activated the tactical net through his comm implant. There the platform loomed large ahead of them. A titanic cylinder, like an enormous gun pointed at the planet below it, which in effect it was. With another command Croder accessed the commands for the disrupter cannons. He could feel something like eagerness from the targeting AI's in the individual cannons. They longed to unleash their fury at the target. Well so did he. With another command he slaved them all to his control, locking them all to fire at a single point.  
  
"Manoeuvring, bring us in on a close range pass!"  
  
"We're down to thruster's sir. I don't know if I can…"  
  
"Just try Goddamn it!"  
  
The manoeuvring officer struggled to obey. In space, slowly slowly the BlackSword began to turn. The once proud starship was battered and torn. Its hull was a mess. Great trenches had been ploughed through it by disrupter beams. Fires raged along its surface. It was a wreck, but still it refused to die. A groan like the cry of pain of a wild animal echoed through the ship as already abused bulkheads protested the additional stress now put on them. But they held. And the BlackSword aligned its broadside to face its target.  
  
Croder's entire attention was focused on the target. He had a hundred and twenty disrupter cannons left. Seventy in the port broadside and fifty in the starboard. That was less than a quarter of his original strength, and he only had enough for one shot. It would have to be enough. Finally they reached optimum range. The BlackSword was broadside on to its target, perfectly aligned. With a final target lock through the sensors Croder gave the command to fire. Seventy fully powered disrupter cannons fired as one. A wave of destructive energy flooded out of the BlackSword to strike against the platform like the fist of a God. Every beam was targeted at the projector at the base of the transmutation platform, their combined strength hit the force shields protecting it and caused a massive flaring of energy as the shields tried to deflect the focused force of the beams. They failed. With a flare of blinding light the force shields overloaded and failed. Croder grinned tightly as he barked another command.  
  
"Manoeuvring 180 axil spin now!"  
  
The BlackSword started to spin on its axis. Turning its now depleted port broadside away from the target and bringing its remaining starboard guns to bear. Over the ship artificial gravity faded in and out as the damaged antigravity generators struggled to cope. The crew grimly clung on to their work areas and ignored the nausea that went through them. Compared to what they had already gone through it was less than nothing. Croder could feel the energy flooding out of the platform as the starboard battery was brought to bear. The platform was almost ready to fire, but the technicians had to compensate for the power surge caused by the failure of the shields. Croder had no such problem. Fifty disrupter cannons barked as one. Their fire power was pitiful compared to the full power his ship had once been able to unleash. But it was enough.  
The blast tore through the main projector of the platform. Destroying the focusing array for the massive power contained within. With no form of release the energy exploded through the damaged sections of the array. Explosions rippled through the array as the massive capacitators for the transmutation engine detonated. The detonations ripped the platform apart.  
  
In the smoking bridge of the BlackSword, Ian Croder allowed himself a sigh of relief. Their mission was accomplished. Now they could… He didn't get a chance to finish the thought. The BlackSword suddenly rocked as disrupter blasts smashed home.  
  
"Sir, the defending starcruiser's have opened fire on us!"  
  
"Manoeuvring get us out of here!"  
  
"I can't sir. Engines are gone, thrusters are all that's left. It's all I can do to stop us from falling into the planets gravity well."  
  
The two Church militant starcruiser's closed in on the wreck of the BlackSword. They fired their disrupters in slow steady volleys. Blowing the ship apart piece by piece. They had failed in their duty. The transmutation engine was destroyed. Now all that was left for them was revenge. They focused on the BlackSword with the single-mindedness that only a fanatic can know. So focused were they that the first indication they had of the Imperial starcrusiers coming up behind them was when those ships started to pour fully charged disrupter broadsides against their rear shields.  
  
The shock of the attack broke the focus of the Church ships. They shifted their attention from the BlackSword and started to target the interlopers. But their fire was deflected by intact force shields. The BlackSword's attack had bound the imperial forces time to isolate and override the Church's sabotage command. Now the two lead starcruiser's swept past the church ships to take up positions along side their wounded sister. Shielding her with their own shields as they towed her away from the battle. The remaining seven Starcruiser's of Taskforce Alpha 5 closed in on the church ships and began to extract their vengeance for the damage done to their sister.  
  
On the bridge of the BlackSword Captain Croder got slowly to his feet. He coughed harshly to clear his throat before keying his comm. implant. When he spoke his voice was raw and harsh.  
  
"Crew of the BlackSword. Platform Damocles 3 has been destroyed. The rest of task force Alpha 5 is engaging the remaining enemy units. The Reliant and the Gryphon are currently towing us away from the combat zone. Their crews will soon start sending over personnel to assist us in our repairs and in treating our wounded.  
We have fulfilled our duty. We are Victorious."  
  
At his station Tamorasp stared at the captain, then at the wreck of the bridge around him. Broken bodies of the crew littered the floor. Almost everyone was wounded to one degree or another and if anything the rest of the BlackSword was worse. Power on the reserve plant was barely holding steady at 50%. There were fires running uncontrolled through sections of the ship. The engines were gone. Over three quarters of the compartments were open to space. As for the crew of the original 1500 he would be surprised if half of them were still alive. Even if they were, many would be severely wounded. If this was victory, he would hate to see defeat. But in one thing at least the captain was right. They had stopped the platform, they had done their duty. Suddenly he remembered an old saying of his Grandfathers.  
"Death is lighter that a feather. Duty is heavier than a mountain. (1)" He had never understood the meaning of that until now.  
  
End of Part 1.  
………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
This chapter changed a fair bit while I was writing it. I initially just wanted to use it to cover Tams recovery from the battle and to show the crews reaction to what he did. Then I wanted to insert a little more about the DeathStalker universe to provide a bit more background as to where Tam came from and why he may think the way he does. Well a little became a lot, so much so that I finally decided to post this chapter in two separate parts. Part 2 will cover more of the crews reactions to Tam's injuries and miraculous recovery. It will also provide some more flashbacks from the Khrishnaar campaign.  
  
Just to note, the Khrishnaar campaign and the events contained within are all made up by me. The institutions, the Imperial Fleet, the transmutation board, the Church militant and Pure Humanity as well as the weapons and technology are all taken from Simon R. Greens DeathStalker Novels, particularly the second series beginning with DeathStalker Legacy. For those that haven't read the books this wont mean much, but I thought it best to warn you that some of the content of the coming chapters may contain spoilers as to the main story.  
  
Once again thank you to my readers, especially those of you who send me reviews.  
  
As always comments and criticism can be sent to  
Don't forget, if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong or what you do/don't like I can never improve.  
  
DarkBlade.  
  
(1) I believe that this is an old Japanese saying or proverb but I am unaware of the source. If anyone knows could they please let me know? 


	6. VanStalker Chapter 4 Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
VanStalker Chapter 4: Part II  
  
INS BlackSword: Some time in the past, in far orbit of Khrishnaar Prime  
  
Lieutenant Tamorasp Naghanashar walked warily through the corridors of the BlackSword. The footing was treacherous. As he walked he had to be wary not only of the obvious debris that littered the ground, but of the floor bulkheads and the very gravity he walked in. The ship was so severely damaged that it was literally hanging together by threads. Battle damage had warped the bulkheads making them unstable and prone to collapse. The anti gravity generators, what few remained, were fluctuating with the effort of maintaining gravity for the entire ship. The result was that there were pockets where gravity faded in and out. And those were just the most obvious hazards. The hardsuit, the heavily armoured spacesuit, he wore was designed for hazardous environments. Still he had no wish to test the suits limits, or to find himself blown into space by a sudden decompression, relying only on the measly beacon mounted in the suit to attract attention. With all the crap floating out there right now it could be years until they found him.  
  
It had been 8 hours since the BlackSword disobeyed orders and led the fleet in the attack on the transmutation platforms. With so many ships following the BlackSword's lead, Rear Admiral Haynes had, had no choice but to order the rest of the fleet to follow. With the fleets force shields sabotaged it had been an insane attack. But it had largely succeeded. Of the ten platforms that had been ready to destroy the civilian population of Khrishnaar prime, only two had survived long enough to fire. Three had been destroyed as they prepared to fire. Their directional arrays crippled, in the same way the BlackSword had knocked out the platform Damocles 3.  
Provided with no other outlet, the massive energies generated by the platforms had been channelling back against the very platforms that had created them. The resulting explosion had blown the platforms apart. Four others had been damaged by long range disrupter fire, delaying them from firing long enough for the fleet to restore their shields and move in to cripple the platforms. And one had been rammed by the dying starcruiser Champion, as its captain desperately sought to fulfil his mission the only way he could.  
But despite the fleet's efforts, two of the platforms had fired. Meaning that at best estimate at least two billion civilians had died in the attack. That combined with the losses the fleet had suffered left their victory tasting like ashes in their mouths.  
  
Tamorasp brushed away floating bits of debris and even what looked like a few body parts as he made his way forward. He had to walk careful, ensuring that the magnets on each foot had a good connection before he took his next step forward.  
The BlackSword had suffered terribly in the attack, but surprisingly she wasn't the worst off. The unpredictable nature of Captain Croder's manoeuvres and the sheer surprise of the initial attack had put the defenders off balance. Some of the other ships in the fleet hadn't been as fortunate. Of the hundred ships that had taken part in the attack, the Champion, Defender, Heritage and Falcon had been destroyed with all hands.  
  
Another fifteen were as badly damaged as the BlackSword, dozens of others had received severe but repairable battle damage. Considering what they had done their losses had been light. But that wasn't the point. This mission had been planned to ensure the destruction of the platforms before any could fire, with little or no loss to the Fleet.  
One of the first lessons taught at the academy was that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. But that was cold comfort in the face of the death and destruction they now saw around them.  
  
Tamorasp sighed deeply as he sealed a bulkhead door behind him. This section of the ship was almost undamaged, the air clear, the corridors bright and clean. Despite that he didn't remove his helmet or his suit. Right now he preferred the additional security they offered. The inspection had not gone well.  
  
Once the fire's on board had been put out and the remaining crew members secured Captain Croder had ordered Tamorasp to make a damage assessment of the ship. That was his task now as damage control officer. Commander Izikiel Calavin and the entire main engineering staff had died in the explosion that destroyed the BlackSword's primary engines. That left Tamorasp as the most qualified officer. Part of him wondered if that would mean he would also be promoted to replace the XO, another part of him scoffed at the notion. A dead ship didn't need a crew, and whether he liked it or not that was what the BlackSword now was. Her engines were gone, her hull had more holes than a Swiss cheese and what little armour she had left was as thin as tissue paper and would be even less effective at preventing further damage. There had been hope that she could be towed back to a space dock through hyper, but Tamorasp now knew that was impossible. The primary bulkheads were already warped, a hyper jump would cause them to snap like dry kindling and the rogue energies in hyperspace would tear the ship apart. No the best the fleet could hope was to salvage her for usable parts, as a ship the BlackSword was dead.  
  
The thought saddened Tamorasp. He had served on the BlackSword for five years, ever since he left the academy. The ship had become a home to him. Lovingly he laid an armoured hand against a nearby bulkhead.  
  
"I'm sorry old friend. I wish there was some way to save you, but those bastards did too much damage. But at least take comfort in this. You served us well. You held together even when all the odds said you should have fallen apart. We can only pray that when our times come, we will be able to fulfil our duty as well as you did."  
  
His hand lingered there for a long moment, before it was rudely interrupted by a beep from his comm. implant.  
  
"Lieutenant Naghanashar, report to the captains quarters. Lieutenant Naghanashar, report to the captains quarters immediately." The voice was harsh and artificial and Tamorasp's lip curled in dislike as he heard it. Someone had obviously found time to unpack and boot up the back up AI. But hearing its harsh and inhumane voice only caused him to miss the rich baritone of Malthus. Malthus the AI they had had to purge, yet another death to lay at the feet of the bastards that had done this to the BlackSword.  
Tamorasp was tired, he had been working for almost ten hours straight without rest. All he wanted was a hot shower, a hot meal and eight hours sleep. Hell right now he'd settle for a drink of water, a ration bar and a half hour nap in his hardsuit, something he knew he was far more likely to get. A tiny part of him was tempted to ignore the summons, but he quashed it. Tired as he was he was still an Imperial officer. So he moved to answer his captain's summons.  
  
The Captains quarters were located close to the bridge. That was unusual. Most Captains preferred to take one of the more luxurious officers suites located closer to the hull, where the rooms were larger and equipped with armourplas view ports to provide a view of the space out side. But Captain Croder long ago selected a small cramped cabin close to the Bridge and the core of the ship, and made it his own.  
It was unusual, but no one was going to tell a captain how to behave on his own ship. Tamorasp pondered this idly as he made his way through the fairly intact and comparatively well lit corridors. This part of the ship had been the least damaged. Being close to the centre of the ship it was on of the best protected areas on board. Had the Captain realised that when he chose it? Almost certainly. As with everything else the Captain did, he put functionality before ascetics or decorum. Tamorasp smiled at the thought, and then composed his face into a careful mask as he nodded to the marine on duty outside the captain's door.  
  
"Lieutenant Naghanashar reporting to see the Captain." The marine nodded his head respectfully.  
"He's expecting you sir. Go on in." Tamorasp gave the marine another nod as he passed through the now open bulkhead and heard it close behind him.  
  
Captain Croder was seated behind his desk, apparently scanning a report through his comm. implant. Tamorasp brought himself to attention before the desk. The hardsuit clanked dully as he saluted, the helmet tucked under his arm.  
"Lieutenant Naghanashar reporting as ordered Sir!"  
  
"At ease Lieutenant. I have been going through your damage report. A little rough but very thorough."  
  
Tamorasp's eyes widened slightly. "But sir those were just my notes. My report is incomplete, I haven't had time.." Croder looked up and waved away his comments.  
  
"I am aware of that Lieutenant, but I wanted a chance to look through you report and have the opportunity to query you before you move on to your new assignment."  
  
Tamorasp blinked rapidly at the unexpected news.  
"Sir, what new assignment?"  
  
Croder turned his attention towards Tamorasp, staring directly into the younger mans eyes.  
"We recently received word from the fleet. Data we have retrieved from the captured platforms and starship's indicates that the Church Militant had deployed a sizable armed force down to the surface of Krishnaar Prime. Their purpose appears to have been to mop up any survivors from the platforms. Now the Admiral is concerned that they may attempt to use this force to complete at least part of their mission by attacking nearby Khrishnaari settlements. We only have a rough idea where the Church forces may have been deployed and unfortunately there are several major population centres in that area. Therefore the admiral has decided to send down marine guard details to defend the cities until we can pinpoint and mop up the church forces. Even with the losses we have suffered, we still have twenty five marines who are fit for duty, and I note that a single pinnace somehow survived intact in boat bay three. What I lack is an officer to lead them. Major Gomez and his subordinates were in the secondary fire control centre when it was destroyed. So that leaves you."  
  
Tamorasp struggled hard to keep the surprise from his face. It was difficult, firstly there was the news itself. Secondly was the amount of information. From the normally taciturn Captain it was the equivalent of a speech!"  
  
"Me Sir? But I'm a deck officer not a Marine."  
  
"In your file you are listed as a having a SwordMasters rating, is that correct?"  
  
Tamorasp nodded. "Yes, Sir."  
  
"Then you are more qualified than anyone else who is fit for duty at the moment lieutenant. Drop that hardsuit off at the armoury and report to boat bay three, the marine detail will meet you there. I have authorised you to draw your personal weapons and any additional weapons and equipment as you see fit from the armoury. Dismissed!"  
  
Croder turned away and went back to reviewing reports. Tamorasp made no move to leave. After a moment Croder looked up in annoyance. Before he could repeat the order Tamorasp spoke out.  
  
"Sir with respect I believe that my place is here on this ship!"  
  
Croder's face hardened in anger. "Are you questioning my orders Lieutenant?"  
  
Tamorasp stood unflinching staring at the wall behind the captain's head.  
"Sir, I am the acting damage control officer of the BlackSword. I believe that my duty is to my ship at this point in time. Surely the marines can be placed at the disposal of officers from the other ships?"  
  
As he watched the captains face tighten with anger, the eyes flashing. Tamorasp forced himself to remain immobile, to stare straight ahead and weather the storm that was coming. But just as suddenly the look faded and the captain leaned back in his chair. His voice when he spoke was almost melancholy.  
  
"You know Lieutenant, there's a reason that I never rose past my present rank. It's largely because unwilling to play the politics necessary to receive a rank above Captain. But that doesn't mean that I haven't learned anything about how the game is played. What do you think will happen once we link up with the rest of the fleet?"  
  
Tamorasp struggled to form a reply to the unexpected question, but was cut off by Croder before he could speak. "I'll tell you what will happen. As soon as we get back to the fleet Rear Admiral Haynes will call for my court martial, and possibly that of the entire bridge crew."  
  
Tamorasp started to protest, but was cut off wordlessly by Croder.  
"He has a right to do so. We disobeyed a direct order, and none of you attempted to stop me. That I will be court martialled is a certainty now. But I can still protect my crew from that fate. The other bridge officers are too wounded or junior to attract Haynes's attention. But with the deaths we have suffered you are know the second ranking officer on this ship. As such you are another target for Haynes. By assigning you to the marines you will be effectively distanced from me. Hopefully enough to avoid his attention."  
  
Tamorasp stood shocked for a long moment before he replied.  
"Sir, I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I would prefer to stay with the ship. Even if that means facing court martial with you."  
  
Croder made a sharp motion with his hand, dismissing the comment.  
"What you prefer makes no difference Lieutenant. Your duty is to the empire. Right now that duty means you are needed on the planet below." Croder suddenly narrowed his eyes as a thought entered his head.  
  
"You are from Nepalla Lieutenant?"  
  
"Yes Sir" Tamorasp was leery of this new change in topic, he could feel where it was going.  
  
Croder stared idly around the room speaking reflectively.  
"Few men achieve a SwordMasters qualification in this day and age. Of those that do a surprising number come from Nepalla. Interestingly while we receive an abnormally high number of recruits for the marines from that world, we get very few ship officers from there."  
  
Croder's eyes suddenly snapped to Tamorasp's face with an intensity that was shocking. "Are you afraid of the dance Lieutenant?"  
  
Tamorasp stared back at the man before him. If he was surprised by the captain's cryptic comment he gave no sign of it.  
  
"I am afraid that I will like it too much sir. I fear letting go to it completely"  
  
The captain stared at Tamorasp. He seemed to understand the equally cryptic response. Finally he spoke "I always thought that you had it in you to be a good officer Naghanashar. Your actions today prove that I was right. I understand your fear of this duty, you may not believe me but I do. But there is a reason for what you have been taught. In this day and age the skills you have are not as accepted as they once were. But the times are changing again, and you may soon be very glad of what you know."  
  
Croder stared at the young man before him, when he spoke his tone was gentle.  
"You know what the Church militant is like. You know that there is no reasoning with them. Most of them will die rather than surrender or be captured. Do not hesitate to use all you know against them. That is what your duty requires of you." Tamorasp dropped his gaze to the floor, when he spoke the words were resigned.  
"Yes Sir."  
  
Croder nodded satisfied, the young man may not like what he was being asked to do, but he would do it anyway. He looked up again when he noticed Tamorasp had not yet left.  
  
With slow and careful deliberation Tamorasp brought himself to attention and gave a perfect, formal parade ground salute.  
"Sir, it has been an honour to serve with you  
  
Croder rose from his desk. He returned the salute with equal formality.  
"You served with honour Lieutenant Naghanashar."  
  
No further words were needed. With a final nod the two men parted company for the last time.  
  
The armoury was a hive of activity when Tamorasp reached it. Centrally located and heavily shielded it was one of the few areas of the ship that had survived almost intact. As such it was now overcrowded as crewmen attempted to obtain access to still working parts and machinery jealously guarded by the marine sergeants and non-coms on duty. Tamorasp soon had personal experience with just how in demand equipment was. No sooner did he start removing his hardsuit then it was almost torn off him by a waiting crewman. By the time Tamorsasp started looking for the sergeant in charge of the armoury the now suited crewman was already walking out.  
Tamorasp finally spotted the marine sergeant engaged in a vigorous discussion with two techs. He moved towards them and pushed the techs out of the way to stand before the armoury counter. One of the techs started to protest hotly, before he caught sight of the officer's uniform and shut up. The armoury sergeant looked at him, obviously displeased, but he was too professional to let it enter his voice.  
  
"Begging your pardon sir, but if you would be so good as to wait a minute while I finish up with these men."  
  
Tamorasp shook his head suddenly. "I'm afraid not sergeant this is a priority."  
  
The sergeant stared back at him impassively. "Sir right now everything is a priority, but I'm afraid I cannot let you.." Tamorasp abruptly cut him off.  
  
"Check you comm. implant sergeant. I have received a priority order from the captain. I'm going with the squad to the planet below and I need to draw equipment."  
  
The sergeant's expression glazed over for a second as he accessed his comm. implant.  
When he looked back at Tamorasp his tone was brisk and businesslike with an underlying current of enthusiasm.  
"You're going down to the planet sir?" Tamorasp nodded. The sergeant smiled, then turned and gathered up a load of parts from under the bench before him. The sergeant spoke as he placed the pieces down.  
  
"I gathered this up for you when the order came down sir. This is a suit of half armour. Basically it's a chest plate, thigh plates, greaves and vambraces. Not as good as a full suit of marine armour, but a fair bit lighter and it won't inhibit your movement as much. Force shield bracelet is built into the left arm vambrace."  
  
Tamorasp looked over the armour. It wasn't new, but it was in excellent condition. Each plate appeared sound and well rounded to turn a swords blow. Nodding in satisfaction he stared to buckle the pieces on, starting with the chest plate.  
  
"Perfect sergeant just what I was looking for." The sergeant nodded satisfied. "I also pulled a command helmet for you sir. Has all the standard features, rebreather, compass, extra vision modes. It's also got a boosted set of comms."  
  
Tamorasp paused in buckling on his armour to pick up the helmet. It was smooth dark and featureless. Lifting it he tried it on, ensuring that it sat tightly over his head, making sure that all the functions worked and that the rebreathers filters were clean. Again he nodded satisfied.  
  
The sergeant looked pleased and hefted a weapons belt. "I took the liberty of drawing a second disrupter for you sir, as for the sword I checked it myself. It's a good solid blade with a keen edge. " Tamorasp glanced over the weapons quickly then looked up.  
"Thank you for the disrupter's sergeant but I have my own blades, would you mind drawing them from storage for me."  
  
The sergeant looked surprised for a moment and then moved away to comply. While he was gone Tamorasp drew the hand disrupters from their holsters, checking the charge on the energy crystals and the feel of the weapons. Both appeared to me in good condition, not that he had expected anything else, but it paid to be sure. After a short while the sergeant returned. In his hands was a long scabbarded sword with a baldric and a small black box.  
  
As he placed the sword on the table, Tamorasp drew it a few inches from its scabbard and tested its edge. Razor sharp, just as he had left it. Satisfied he sheathed it and settled the baldric over his shoulders. The blade hung down his back, the cruciform shape of the hilt rising over his right shoulder.  
  
The sergeant stared at the weapon with a look of slight distaste. "Sir if you'll listen to my advice you should take one of the more standard blades. That weapon of yours may look big and impressive but in a fight you may find it too big and heavy to use effectively. Especially if things get tight."  
  
Tamorasp smiled, it was good advice.  
"Thank you sergeant, I appreciate your advice, but I'm comfortable with this blade. I'll keep it for know."  
  
The sergeant shrugged unconvinced. "I suppose you know best Sir. That was all we had under your name, except for this box." The sergeant held out the indicated box. It was made of plain black metal. A sliver plate was embossed on the lid. The box was roughly 15 inches long, 5 inches wide and about 3 inches deep. Other than the sliver plate it was completely featureless.  
  
"I have no idea what it is sir or how you open it. If you like I could check with.." Tamorasp raised his hand, silencing the sergeant. Reaching out he caressed the black metal of the box. Then he took it from the sergeants unresisting hands and placed it on the bench top. Leaving forward he placed his right hand palm down on the sliver plate on top of the case. For a long moment nothing happened then there was an audible click. A slender seam appeared in the sides of the box. Tamorasp reached forward and flipped open the lid. For a moment he stared at the contents, then he reached within and drew it out.  
  
It was a knife in a scabbard. The handle was black and silver. The scabbard was sliver and dark crimson. The knife was about ten inches long and oddly shaped. For the first two inches from the hilt it was straight. From there on it bent forwards at an acute angle. The blade thickening to twice its size, before tapering down to a point. Tamorasp could hear the sergeant hiss in surprise as he saw the knife, but he ignored him. Grasping the scabbard with his left hand he drew the blade with his right. He drew it slowly taking time to critically view the edge for any imperfection. There was none. He drew the blade fully and examined it in detail, hefting it in his hand, making slow cuts and jabs to test the weight. Finally he was satisfied, but before returning the blade to its scabbard he rolled up his left sleave exposing the underside of his forearm. Then he drew the blade vertically down the forearm, making a shallow cut from which blood flowed freely.  
  
From where he stood watching the sergeant could see a faint pattern of white lines running vertically along the forearm. A pattern of scars, each one mimicking the cut. Finally his curiosity getting the better of him the Sergeant asked.  
"Sir is that a.. " "A Kukri?" Interrupted Tamorasp. "Yes sergeant it is. My grandfather gave it to me."  
  
The sergeant stood speechless, Tamorasp silently re-sheathed the kukri, then he attached it to the weapons belt and buckled on the belt, checking that all the weapons were within easy reach. Finally satisfied he glanced up at the sergeant as he began to buckle the force shield vambrace over his left arm.  
  
"What weapons have the marines been equipped with?" The sergeant shook himself and looked at him in surprise. "Sir? Gunnery Sergeant Abbot said he took the equipment you requested him to. He said he had your authorisation sir!" "Did he now?" Tamorasp looked around the room. Then he shrugged his shoulders and turned to pick up his other equipment. "Thank you sergeant, please take care of the necessary paperwork." With no further words he gathered the rest of his equipment and made his way down to the boat bays.  
  
The boat bays were a wreck, like the rest of the ship. Instead of the normally immaculate open space with carefully parked shuttles and pinnace's the deck was littered with debris. Scattered pieces of equipment and the shattered bodies of small craft lay strewn over the deck. But standing in a cleared area stood a miraculously intact pinnace. The craft looked hard used. The fuselage was covered with dents and the paintwork was in a sorry state, but as he drew closer Tamorasp realised that he could not see any damage to the critical areas. The fuselage appeared t be intact, and though dented there was no obvious damage to the engines or antigrav units. Tamorasp wondered how this pinnace had survived the destruction that had been wreaked on its brothers in the bay. For that matter it was a wonder that the bay itself was intact. Or rather that the force shield generators that served as the main bay doors were. He suddenly realised that all that lay between him and the cold void of space was a set of possibly damaged force shield generators, on a ship with a failing power source. He unconsciously increased his pace towards the pinnace.  
  
As he neared the small craft he admired its still sleek lines, although he did not slow his pace. The craft was long and narrow, with delta shaped wings that closely hugged the main body. Studding the wings and the hull he could see the muzzles of small disrupter cannon, each mounted on individual turrets. He could also make out racks for other ordinance, missiles and bombs, but these were presently empty. A pinnace was a muti-role attack small craft. They were used to scout areas of space, board hostile vessels, make attacks against ground based targets and to land troops. For their size they were heavily armed and designed to take a fair degree of punishment. Therefore it likely that this one would still be ready to fly. Suddenly Tamorasp noticed something odd. There were no flight crew. Normally the bay would have been swarming with technicians maintaining and prepping the boats. The mess on their normally immaculate decks should have had them swarming like an ants nest that had been kicked over. Finally he noticed some movement at the rear access ramp of the pinnace and headed over that way.  
  
Suddenly a gruff cracked like a disrupter shot through the relative quiet of the bay.  
"Get a move on you pack of apes! We're on a schedule and by God we are going to meet it or you're going to regret it."  
  
Tamorasp smiled at the unmistakable sound of Gunny Abbot's voice. The Gunnery Sergeant was the senior non com on board the ship. He was feared and respected through out the ship. Even those who didn't work with the marines had heard of the gunny. So Tamorasp was mildly surprised to hear a voice call out in protest.  
"Come on Gunny, give us a break. The fleety's not here yet. What's the rush?"  
  
Tamorasp winced in anticipation of what was to come. There was suddenly a loud slap quickly followed by a dull thud. "One more comment like that Simmons and I'll give you a break all right. RIGHT ACROSS YOURE USELESS SKULL! Now shut up and get back to work. And as for any of the rest of you who may be pondering the answer to Simmons questions, let me save you the trouble and answer them for you.  
We are in a rush because the fleet has ordered us to rush.  
We are in a rush because there are church militant down on the planet below, and as marines it's our duty to show those pussies how real soldiers FIGHT!  
And most importantly, you are in a rush BECAUSE I FUCKING SAID SO.  
Now get a move on ladies, because with or without the fleety we are leaving on schedule."  
  
"Glad to hear it Gunny." Commented Tamorasp mildly as he made his way around the pinnace's rear. The area to the rear of the shuttle was filled with marines. They were all in motion moving crates of equipment up the shuttle ramp from the neat racks below. But the area was dominated by a single figure that currently stood with its back to Tamorasp. It was clad it the trademark black battle armour of the Imperial marines. The figure was not short, but it was so broad that it appeared almost squat. Nevertheless it spun around to face Tamorasp with surprising swiftness at the sound of his voice.  
  
"SIR!" Tamorasp brought himself to attention and returned the Sergeants salute.  
"Report" "The marine detail will be ready for duty by the assigned deadline Sir!" Tamorasp nodded to the rigidly at attention figure.  
  
"At ease Gunny." The figure relaxed marginally. Tamorasp noticed that many of the marines had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the scene. Unfortunately for them Gunny Abbot noticed too. His head turned to face them like a disrupter turret tracking its target.  
"What are you looking at? BACK TO WORK." The marines frantically scurried back to their assigned tasks.  
  
"So Gunny what's our status?" "Loading is almost completed Sir, we will be ready to head out in five minutes." Tamorasp looked at the crates and the moving marines.  
"Ahh yes I'm glad to see you received my order to gather the equipment from the armoury. Why don't you run down the list again?"  
  
If Gunny Abbot had any reaction to the irony in that comment he hid it well.  
"Yes Sir. Each marine has two disrupter pistols in addition to their disrupter rifles. Other armour and weapons as standard. We have five portable disrupter cannon, five cases of hand grenades and twenty pallets of land mines."  
  
Tamorasp whistled under his breath at the inventory.  
"What did you do Gunny clean out the armoury?" "We'll need it more than them sir." "Truth. Where are they bay crew, why aren't they helping with the loading?" Sergeant Abbots stare turned harsh for a moment.  
"They're dead sir. Most were working on the boats when the shields went down.  
The rest got crushed by the boats when we went into extreme manoeuvring.  
The few that survived are in the sickbay. Someday maybe some of them will walk again."  
  
Outwardly Tamorasp accepted the comment impassively. But inside he cringed. Of course the boat bay had suffered just as badly as the rest of the BlackSword. He had been the damage control officer he should have known that. But when you were dealing with a flood of information it was all too easy to forget that those figures represented real people and real damage. His inspection of the ship should have made him realise that.  
  
Uncomfortable he tried to change the subject.  
"I'm surprised there's a single pinnace left intact." "It was locked down in a maintenance bay for a standard overhaul." The Gunnery Sergeants responses were professional but they were also clipped and terse. Tamorasp reached a decision.  
"Come with me Gunny, I want to inspect the pinnace." Then without waiting for a reply he turned and started walking back towards the front of the pinnace.  
  
After he felt they were out of earshot Tamorasp turned around to face the Gunnery Sergeant. The man stood silently before him. His face a mask.  
"Alright Gunnery Sergeant, permission to speak freely."  
  
"Sir? I didn't ask to .." Tamorasp held up his hand to stop any further response. " That's enough excuses Gunny. There is something on your mind. Even I can tell that. Now we are about to drop into a potential hot zone so if you have any doubts or questions tell me now. That's an order."  
  
The sergeant stared at him impassively for a minute then he began to speak.  
"Very well Sir. Out of a company of one hundred I have twenty four marines who are not wounded or KIA. My men have been in action for ten hours straight. Many of them are still in post combat shock. Now I am ordered to make a combat drop, in a damaged pinnace into a potentially hot landing zone. I don't have a problem with any of that. I'm a marine that's my job. What I have a problem with is being told that I will be under the command of a Fleety with no ground combat experience who will end up getting my men killed!"  
  
Tamorasp listened to all of this impassively.  
"I agree with you Gunny." The sudden look of surprise was the first true expression he had seen on the gunnery sergeant's face, but he ignored it and pressed on.  
"I'm a bridge officer, not a marine officer. I have no experience in leading men in ground combat, so I don't intend to try. I will act as liaison with command on the ground. The will give their orders to me and I will leave it to you as to how best to implement them. But that said I am the senior officer Gunny. If I give you an order I expect you to obey it. Are we clear?"  
  
"Sir, yes sir." The gunnery sergeant appeared mollified if not pleased. Well they didn't have to like each other as long as they could work together.  
  
"Now Gunny, anything else you want to cover before we move out?"  
  
The gunny's gaze was suddenly fixed on the hilt of the sword above Tam rasp's shoulder. "Sir I would recommend that you get rid of that blade and draw a standard one from stores. It may be nice and dramatic but I doubt that the church goons are going to be impressed at the size. There's no way you'll be able to use it effectively. You'd be better off with a standard blade."  
  
Tamorasp smiled as the gunny unconsciously echoed the supply sergeant's advice. "Someone already gave me that advice Gunny. So I'll tell you what I told him. This is my blade. I feel comfortable with it, so it stays. Now any other complaints over my equipment?"  
  
The sergeant was plainly displeased but he started to glance critically up and down over Tamorasp's equipment. "Well sir the rest of your gear looks ok. Someone in supply must have given you good advice. I still think you should…"  
  
The sergeant's voice abruptly cut off. His gaze was suddenly fixed on the kukri, the long curved dagger at Tamorasp's belt. When he spoke again his voice was tinged with disbelief.  
"Sir are you entitled to wear that?"  
  
Tamorasp looked up suddenly, locking gazes with the sergeant with an intensity that blazed. "If you know what this is then you know that no one is "entitled" to wear one. That right must be earned as I earned mine. Through blood and steel."  
  
Their gazes locked and after a moment it was the sergeant that looked away. "Sir that sword you carry, did you learn to use it…" "The same place I earned my kukri Gunny. I grant it's an unusual blade, but it suits me."  
  
The sergeant stared at Tamorasp, but now his gaze was questioning tinged with respect. "If you earned that sir, then you must know a fair bit about ground combat."  
  
Tamorasp shook his head slowly and started to move away. Back towards the rear of the pinnace. He could hear the sergeant following behind him.  
"I've had plenty of training at fighting sergeant, but fighting and leading are two different things and I have never drawn another's blood with my blades."  
  
The sergeant's voice reached his ears, a slight hit of concern in it.  
"Is that going to be a problem sir?" "I guess we'll find out."  
  
By the time they reached the rear cargo ramp the pinnace was fully loaded. Soon after they sealed the ramps and strapped in for the flight down. As the senior officer Tamorasp took a seat in the cockpit with the pilots. There was nothing for him to do up there but at least he could access the pinnaces comms and sensors. As they dropped down towards the planet Tamorasp reached out through his comm. implant and accessed one of the rear cameras. He could see the receding shape of the BlackSword behind him. From here the damage looked even worse. The entire ship was riddled with holes. Not a single part of her hull appeared to have survived with out some kind of damage. The sight saddened him more deeply than he would have thought possible. He shut down the view and leaned back in his chair, hoping to catch a few minutes rest during the flight. He did. But he could not escape the feeling that one chapter of his life had just been closed. And a new one was about to begin.  
  
Infirmary of the Nirvana: The present  
  
Paiway the purple haired nurse of the Nirvana roamed through the ships infirmary. She was the only medical officer present. Duero was still on his sleep cycle and wouldn't turn up for a while yet. That meant that until he did she was the senior medical officer again. She was in charge. She had the power. She had the responsibility. She had never been so bored in her life.  
  
There was absolutely nothing to do. Very few of the crew had suffered any injuries in the last battle against their mysterious enemy. Most of those who had had long ago left the infirmary and Duero had strictly forbidden her from going near the only patient that remained. Something about how she needed to be careful around him, that he was still an unknown.  
  
Paiway sighed and sat back on one of the vacant beds. There was absolutely nothing to do. Duero kept the infirmary spotless and in perfect order. So there wasn't even any cleaning to do. The though shocked her. That she was so bored she would actually be glad for cleaning as something to do. What really annoyed her was that she couldn't go out on the ship and do some Pai Checks. The last time she had done off while she had been on duty she had received a stern talking to from Duero. Paiway had complained to Magno about the man, but to her utter shock she had taken his side. While she may not have really cared what the man thought she didn't want to anger the commander so she was stuck here with nothing to do until Duero showed up. If only there was something interesting in here. But it was just the same old infirmary with nothing new or interesting in it. Then her gaze fell upon the curtained off bed.  
  
Paiway looked around quickly and smiled. Well she was the senior medical officer present. It was her job to check on all the patients and make sure that they were all ok. Stealthily she grabbed her camera and made her way over to the curtained bed. Slowly she pulled back the curtains to reveal the figure on the bed. She gazed around intently and noticed… absolutely nothing new.  
  
Tam still lay there in his bed. The steady rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive. Other than that and the steady beep of the monitoring machines there was no other activity. Paiway was disappointed. She had hoped that something exciting would have happened so that she could do a Pai check. But there was nothing here but a man, and all the crew had gotten used to seeing them by now. Then her gaze settled on Tams waist.  
  
Soon after the men had come on the ship a rumour had started spreading that they had some king of weird tube it their crotch. Dita had even tried to have a look, but all the men got really weird when she asked to look there so no one had ever been able to find out the truth. Paiway realised that she had a perfect opportunity to find out.  
Eagerly she reached out with her right hand, her left holding her camera close to her face.  
  
"And now the Super Idol Paiway team prepares to conduct the greatest Pai Check ever!" She couldn't wait to see if the rumours were really true. Her hand reached the top of the blanket and she was just about to pull it down when.  
  
"Paiway! What are you doing?"  
  
Paiway jumped and turned around at the sound of the voice. Quickly she tucked the camera behind her and tried to look innocent. She relaxed a little when she saw who it was.  
  
"Oh Barnette, Jura. I .. I was just." Paiway looked around frantically trying to think of an excuse.  
"I was just checking on the patient."  
  
Barnette and Jura moved across the room towards her. A slightly surprised look on their faces.  
  
"Checking on the patient?" commented Jura. "You mean that you actually know how to use all these weird machines Paiway?"  
  
The young nurse flushed. "Of course I do. After all I am the senior medical officer." As things stood at the moment it was not technically a lie. Paiway just neglected to mention the fact that the moment Duero came in the door he was the senior medical officer.  
  
Barnette looked pleased. "Good I'm glad to see that that male doctor isn't pushing you around Paiway."  
  
Paiway didn't comment but if she was watching Barnette would have noticed her flush slightly. Barnette's attention however was fixed on the bed Paiway was standing by.  
  
"So who's your patient? I hadn't heard that any of the crew had been… Oh." Barnette had finally gotten close enough to notice the figure lying in the bed, and to notice that it wasn't female.  
  
Jura also noticed the figure for the first time. "Eeekk. Oh how ghastly. I hope I never get sent here. I couldn't bear to think of myself looking that terrible." The busty blonde finally stopped her tirade and seemed to notice the figure in the bed for the first time. "Wait a minute isn't that?"  
  
"Yes" cut in Barnette "its Tam. That man that appeared out of nowhere."  
  
"But how'd he get that badly injured?"  
  
Barnette shook her head in exasperation. Paiway provided the explanation. "Jura didn't you hear by now? He was injured fighting off some machines that got on the ship during the last battle."  
  
"Well I heard that he had been injured, but I didn't expect something like this." "Typical for a male." Said Barnette. "He probably let himself get that badly hurt on purpose. Now he'll be sitting in here recovering until we get to Majere."  
  
"Oh no." Chimed in Paiway "According to Duero he should be fully recovered within a few days."  
  
Barnette turned to her in shock. "What! Paiway that's impossible. I saw the wounds he received during that fight. There's no way he'd be almost fully recovered in just a few days."  
  
"Oh you don't trust my medical opinion? Let me show you." The young nurse was still sensitive to the fact that she didn't know as much about medicine as the male doctor. Now she saw an opportunity to show two of the senior pilots just how much she knew. She again neglected to mention that this knowledge had come from Duero in the first place.  
  
Turning she moved to the control board by the bed and started typing in commands. After a few false tries she managed to pull up the images she had seen Duero looking at earlier.  
  
Proudly she pointed these out to Jura and Barnette. "Now as you can see, this picture shows all the bones in the man's arm a few days ago. Notice how they're all cracked and broken? Now this is the one currently. As you can see that have all come together. There's only small gaps now. In a few more days these should be fixed and he'll be ready to go."  
  
Jura was staring at the screen with a faint look of disgust. Thinking of broken bones didn't really appeal to her. Barnette on the other hand had a look of astonishment on her face. "That's incredible."  
  
Paiway smiled pleased at the reaction. "You think so. Here let me show you something else the doctor found on the man. Even he thought this was really weird." Paiway turned around and started looking at the controls again. However before she could pull up the second image a voice range out across the sick bay.  
  
"Paiway!"  
  
Paiway, Jura and Barnette looked up in surprise. Duero was striding across the sickbay towards them. His long legged stride rapidly covering the intervening distance.  
  
Paiway started and looked guilty. "Duero. What are you doing here?" The male doctor stared at her impassively. "I decided to come in early to check on the patient." His attention then turned to Barnette and Jura. "I'm sorry but I am going to have to ask you to leave. We are not permitting visitors at this time."  
  
Barnette reacted angrily to being ordered by a man, even politely. "And just what gives you the authority to tell us what to do on our ship?"  
  
Duero reacted calmly to her outburst. "Your captain gave me that authority when she made me the senior medical officer on board this ship. If you have a problem with that take it up with her. I will put a call through to the bridge so that they can connect us if you like."  
  
Barnette seemed about to do just that when Jura stepped in. "Come on Barnette, we need to get going anyway. Meia's scheduled another practise session this morning and we'll have to hurry if we don't want to be late." That said the blonde pilot started to make her way to the door. Barnette scowled for a second, then seemed to shake it of and turned to follow Jura. The male doctor would keep for the moment. Beside she had gathered some interesting information. She would have to share it with the right people as soon as possible. No one should be able to heal that fast. It was unbelievable. Whatever this man was he may represent a greater threat than they expected, and they would need to be ready.  
  
Back in the sickbay Duero turned to Paiway. "Paiway just what were you doing showing Tam's x-ray scans to them."  
  
"They just came in to see how he was. I thought I'd show them how much better he was getting. The way you showed me."  
  
Duero sighed in exasperation. "What about patient confidentiality Paiway?"  
  
"What?" asked the young nurse looking confused.  
  
"As a physician, as a medical officer you have a duty not to disclose the details of a patient's illness or injury to anyone else without their permission."  
  
Paiway looked confused. "But you showed them to the Captain, the sub commander and Miss Gascognue."  
  
"As the senior officers they had a right to know that and it was my duty to tell them. Anyway how did you know about that? I didn't notice you here when they came in."  
  
"Umm" Paiway glanced around nervously. In truth she had been hiding in a storage cupboard. Doing the important job of performing Pai checks. And of avoiding any work that Duero had for her. But she couldn't tell him that. Fortunately at that moment she was saved by the voice of a newcomer.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
Duero turned around. A young woman in the uniform of the register was standing in the doorway of the sickbay.  
  
He turned and moved towards her curiously. "Yes? Can I help you?"  
  
The young woman appeared to grow more nervous as he approached, but gathered herself and replied.  
  
"My name is Elysia. I was just wondering if, that is, I just wanted to see if Tamorasp was alright."  
  
Duero stared at her mildly. "Elysia. You were here a few days ago weren't you? I treated you for shock."  
  
The young woman nodded her head in response. Duero remembered her now. She had come in just before the last battle suffering from a mild case of shock. It had been an easy case, the most difficult thing about it had been convincing her to let herself be treated by a man. Since she was one of the crew that was suspicious of men why was she so concerned over Tam?  
  
"Can I ask why you want to see Tam?"  
  
"In the register, he was the one that saved me from the falling crate. I never thanked him for that."  
  
Duero nodded understandingly. "I see. Well I'm sorry but Tam isn't in a fit state to receive visitors right now."  
  
"Why? What's wrong with him?" Elysia looked up at Duero her eyes tinged with concern.  
  
Duero thought for a minute before replying. "He was badly wounded when the machines boarded the ship. He still hasn't recovered from his injuries."  
  
"But I heard that he destroyed the machines easily."  
  
Duero looked at her surprised. "Where did you hear that?"  
  
"Just talk around the ship."  
  
"Well as usually the talk appears to be wrong. I don't know how he managed to destroy those machines but whatever he did nearly killed him. He still hasn't woken up since they brought him in here."  
  
"Oh." Elysia hadn't realised that Tam had been so badly wounded by the machines. The other women had talked about him as being dangerous. But he had nearly died fighting to defend them. Him. A man. Their natural enemy. It just didn't make any sense.  
  
Looking at her Duero mistook her confusion. "If you like I can let him know you came by to thank him when he wakes up."  
  
Elysia looked back at him. "Thank you but no. But can you please let me know when he wakes up. I'd like to thank him in person."  
  
"Certainly." Elysia smiled shyly at the doctor then turned and left.  
Duero stood there watching her go for a moment. That had been unexpected. He had considered her one of the women on the ship that was completely against men. Perhaps he had been mistaken. Or perhaps attitudes on the ship were changing.  
  
………………………………………………………..  
  
Later in the day Duero received another visitor from Tam, this one expected.  
  
"Duero! Has there been any change? Is he awake yet?"  
  
Duero turned to see the figure of Hibiki in the door way of the sickbay. The youth's entire body was tense. He was breathing deeply. He had probably run the entire way from the launch bay when his shift ended.  
  
"Hibiki they're is still no change. He hasn't woken up yet."  
  
Hibiki looked disappointed. He was about to say something further when a young female voice rang down the corridor.  
  
"MR ALIEN?"  
  
A look of mild panic crossed Hibiki's face.  
"Oh no not her again. I thought I'd lost her." Then despite his apparently tired state the youth took off down the corridor again, moving at commendable speed.  
  
Duero shook his head slightly at the now familiar scene. Sure enough minutes later a cute redheaded girl tucked her head round the corner of the sickbay door.  
  
"Mr Alien? Oh Mr Doctor, have you seen Mr Alien?"  
  
As a physician Duero felt compelled not to lie.  
  
"Yes Dita. He was here a few moments ago but he just left."  
  
"Mr Alien was here? Why? He's not sick is he?"  
  
Duero smiled at the redheads concern.  
"No Dita he's not sick. He was just checking on Tam."  
  
"What Tam's sick?"  
  
Duero was slightly surprised. "You know Tam?"  
  
The redhead nodded. "Yes Dita met him a while ago. He promised to tell Dita about where he comes from when he remembers."  
  
"Did he now? Well I'm afraid you may have to wait a while longer. He's still recovering from his injuries."  
  
"Oh" Dita seemed momentarily crestfallen. Then she suddenly perked up again. "Dita knows, she'll get something for Tam to help him feel better."  
  
And saying that she took off down the corridor. Duero was about to call after he to tell her that he didn't know when Tam would recover. But she was gone before he could speak. Bemused he turned to stare at the figure in the bed across the sickbay.  
Tamorasp, my friend I wonder if you have any idea of the effect you seem to be having on this ship. …………………………………………………………………………………  
  
Sometime in the past: On the Surface of Khrishnaar Prime.  
  
Lieutenant Tamorasp Naghanashar stood on a newly raised berm of earth and stared out at the alien landscape before him. A vast expanse of orange tinged jungle stretched as far as the eye could see beyond the cleared area of brown dirt that surrounded the berm of earth on which he stood. Overhead the sun shone down through a pale green sky. He enjoyed the sun while he could. On the horizon the grey shapes of storm clouds, threatened to bring rain and a storm of a very different kind.  
  
Tamorasp breathed in deeply. The air had a strange taste to it. Strange earthly smells and an alien spice mixed with the faint moisture that heralded the approaching storm.  
  
"If they're coming they'll be coming soon." Tamorasp turned and regarded the ramrod straight figure of Gunny Abbott beside him. In his black battle armour the Gunny appeared like a pillar of granite. The only failure in the similarity was that the Gunny was much less yielding.  
He nodded sharply.  
"I think you're right Gunny."  
  
With all the wildlife in the jungles out there it was impossible to use scanners to locate approaching church troops. Especially if they were cutting down on energy emissions to avoid detection. Furthermore the approaching storm looked to be a bad one. If it was severe enough it might prevent the fleet's pinnaces from being able to bring in reinforcements or provide air support. The perfect opportunity for the church troops to attack.  
  
Tamorasp dropped his gaze to the earthworks just below the berm. "At least we have made good use of our time." A series of trenches expanded outwards in ever widening circles from the berm. Straight lines linked the trenches one to the other. He could see the figures of marines moving in their battle armour, which was now liberally covered in brown mud. But he was pleased to note that there weapons all appeared clean and ready.  
  
Beside him Gunnery Sergeant Abbott grunted. "Well sir we've had plenty of help." Tamorasp smiled and turned to the other figure standing on the berm.  
"The sergeant expresses his appreciation for the efforts of your workers Cknek Chee." As he spoke the he comm. implant translated the words and transmitted them through his helmets speakers in a flurry of rapid clicks and whistles.  
Beside him the Khrishnaari clicked its mandibles and raised its spade like forearms in the gesture signifying 'the lesser receives the praise of the greater' The Khrishnaari were an insect like species. In appearance they resembled giant ants, crossed with a centaur. They had been discovered soon after the fall of the old empire and had been one of the first alien races to be granted membership of the new.  
That was part of the reason for the church militants attack on them. Symbolically destroying one of mankind's first alien allies. The second was their vulnerability. The khrishnaari refused to use technology. They were a race of farmers and artists. Cultivating the massive forests of their homeworld and weaving a silk like material that was prized throughout the galaxy. Although mankind had offered to provide technology to the Khrishnaari or teach them how to create their own they had always refused. They were content in their own way of life and saw no reason to change it. That made the Khrishnaari perfect targets for the Church Militant. Even now that the platforms were destroyed there was a very real chance that the church could do tremendous damage.  
  
The reason for this was simple. The Khrishnaari were the ultimate pacifists. They were utterly incapable of fighting or even defending themselves when attacked. They had evolved on a world with no natural predators, the instincts had never developed. Despite this the sheer size of the Khrishnaari population would have made it difficult for the church to exterminate them, if it were not for one thing. The Queens. Although each Khrishnaari was an independent sentient the Queens formed a key part of their society. They served as the overall source of direction for each hive and were the only means by which new Khrishnaari could be produced. If the church were to kill the queens and any queen eggs that had been laid then the remaining Khrishnaari of the hive would simply allow themselves to die. It was a genetic imperative, without a queen the workers could no longer exist.  
  
That was the reason Tamorasp and his men had been sent down to the planet. The fleet had sufficient strength to put a garrison on each Khrishnaari hive. But not in sufficient numbers to ensure that any attack by the remaining church troops could be beaten off. Instead Rear Admiral Haynes had elected to garrison each hive with a small force of no more than a hundred marines and keep the majority in orbit. The logic was that each garrison should be strong enough to hold out until the main force could be sent to deal with the Church Militants troops.  
  
It wasn't a bad plan, except for one minor detail. It was the beginning of season of storms on Khrishnaar Prime. Storms that in some regions were so bad they would make it impossible for the fleets pinnaces to land. Worse yet the electromagnetic interference from the storms could disrupt communications leaving them cut off from support. Fortunately these storms were only limited to certain areas of the planet. Unfortunately this was one of those areas.  
  
Tamorasp looked up and sighed deeply. Some days things wouldn't go right even if you bribed them. For the past few days the hundred men under his command, twenty five from the BlackSword and a mix of others drawn from other ships in the fleet, had been working to build fortifications around the entrance to this hive. Khrishnaari Hives were massive structures buried deep underground. The hive had only one entrance and they had fortified it as best they could. But all it would take would be for a small force of Church Militant fanatic to get in there and it would all have been for nothing. Once they were inside there was almost no way to stop them. So they had to be stopped before they got in. He only hoped that what he had would be sufficient for the task.  
  
Suddenly there was a crack like the breaking of the world. The sound of it filled the air around them. Deep and full. They could feel its echo resonate from the tips of their hair to the soles of their boots. The thunder continued to echo seemingly going on for hours, but in reality it was only seconds. Then just as suddenly as it had come, it stopped. And then came the rain. Heavy fat droplets fell from the sky, a bombardment from the heavens. Instantly visibility was cut to half. The earth if the berm began to soften and turn to mud.  
  
Tamorasp nodded to himself.  
"Gunny, I'm heading down to the forward trench. You're in overall command until I get back."  
  
"Very good sir." Tamorasp nodded again and headed off. This was the plan they had agreed on. Any defence would need to be conducted at the top of the berm where visibility was best and where the disrupter cannons had been emplaced and the Gunnery sergeant was far better qualified to do that than Tam. But the marines in the front trenches needed someone to look to, someone to give direction. That's where Tam came in.  
  
As he moved through the narrow trenches which were rapidly filling with mud Tamorasp unconsciously checked his weapons. Patting them. Ensuring they were loose in their scabbards and within easy reach. His face he knew appeared calm and uncaring but inside his heart was beating rapidly. All those years of training when he was young. He had long ago stopped believing that he would ever have to use it. Soon he may indeed have to. How would he fare? He tightened his grip on the kukri in its sheath. Only one way to find out.  
  
The rain continued for hours. In the front trench the marines grumbled and swore at the weather. They were ankle deep in mud now and getting deeper all the time. Tamorasp moved through the muck at a crouch. Keeping his head below the lip of the trench. As he moved he nodded to the marines. When he had first arrived he had done the same. Then the responses had been crisp and respectful. Now they were surly, full of glares. The marines resented being in the trenches and they were turning that resentment on him. Several times men had climbed to the top of the trench and he had had to yell at them to get down. He was having to do so with increasing frequency. He almost hoped the church would attack soon otherwise he might end up with a mutiny on his hands.  
  
Suddenly his comm.. implant chimed.  
"Sir are you there?"  
  
"I'm here Gunny what's up?"  
  
"We're picking up something at the edge of the sensor envelope. It's still faint and we can't get a lock on it but I thought you should know."  
  
"Thanks Gunny, Keep me posted. Out"  
  
Tamorasp signed deeply. There had been several such reports over the last few hours and they had come to nothing. They must have been either native wildlife or electrical disturbance from the storm. It looked like the Church Militant wasn't going to show.  
  
Suddenly Tamorasp hear a noise behind him. He spun around to see. A marine had clambered out of the trench and stood on the outer rim looking out towards the forest.  
As he watched he could see others looking up and clambering up to follow.  
He had to stop this now.  
  
"You there, Marine! Get back in the trench."  
  
The marine turned and looked at him. His face was curled in a sneer. Tamorasp knew he wasn't going to obey. The marine opened his mouth to reply but he never got the chance. The distinctive crackle of an energy disrupter filled the air. The marine's chest suddenly exploded outwards as a disrupter bolt passed straight through it spraying blood and entrails into the trench. The marine looked down an almost comical look of surprise on his face. Then like a felled tree he collapsed into the trench.  
  
Suddenly a volley of disrupter bolts speared out from the tree line. All along the trench marines threw themselves flat against the trench wall, their earlier concerns about the mud forgotten. Shouts of "Take Cover" and "Incoming" echoed along the trench.  
And at the tree line swiftly following on the tail of the disrupter fire flowed a wave of red clad figures.  
  
Tamorasp peered over the rim of the trench. He could see the oncoming flood of church soldiers, they're blood red robes flapping ridiculously in the wind. But they wore blood red battle armour under those robes and their hands held swords. Suddenly his comm. implant chimed.  
  
"Sir!" He cut over the voice before it could continue.  
"I see them Gunny. Proceed with the plan. Implement phase one!"  
  
Gunnery Sergeant Abbot didn't bother to reply but started barking orders.  
"Marines at 500 meters execute volley fire!" Along the trench marines readied their disrupters and settled themselves into firing positions.  
"Wait for it. Wait for it. Fire!"  
  
Over fifty disrupters fired as one, blasting into the onrushing group of church soldiers. The range was long but the marines were expert marksmen. Over thirty bodies fell. Blasted and broken by the fury of disrupter fire. The volley checked the church troops advance. For a moment they seemed to mill around. Then they dressed their lines and started forward again. This time in a tight formation. Tamorasp could see a faint glimmer before the first line of church troopers. They were using personal energy shields. Before they had run forward in a loose formation. Probably aiming to cover the ground before the marines could react. Now they were coming at a much slower pace, but that pace allowed them to form a tight shell with their personal shields, preventing disrupter fire from getting through. Or so they thought.  
Tamorasp reached out with his comm. implant. "Time for phase two Gunny?" The Gunny's response was brief and terse.  
"I was just about to order it sir." Tamorasp grinned and turned to watch. The group of church militant continued to advance at a steady pace. By now they were close enough that he could hear the sound of their battle prayers. Vile hateful things. Well soon they would really get something to pray for.  
  
Then suddenly, it happened. Seven massive beams of energy flew over the trench with a roar and struck the church line like the wrath of an angry God. They smashed through the personal force fields of the church troopers like they didn't exist and proceeded to vent their fury on the bodies behind. Bodies directly in the path of the blast were obliterated. No trace ever to be found. Those at the edge of the blast were marginally luckier. They were 'only' torn almost in two. Leaving broken and shattered bodies to fall to the ground while they completed the process of dying. Even those at the edge of the blast did not escape unscathed. The force of the blast hurled their bodies around like leaves in the wind. Leaving the survivors to check their bruised and broken limbs, in the wake of the fury of the disrupter cannons.  
  
Tamorasp grinned tightly. The disrupter cannon volley had swept through the tightly packed church troopers like a scythe through a field of wheat. Of the force that had surged out of the trees only a quarter remained. Any professional military force would have retreated in the face of such losses. But Tamorasp had forgotten. They were not facing professionals.  
  
With an angry howl the survivors threw themselves forwards. No longer concerned with keeping ranks they threw themselves at the trench running with wild abandon to reach their goal. Commands cracked over the comm. net and marines started pouring disrupter fire into the oncoming fanatics. Some of the shots missed the fast moving targets. Others were deflected by force shields. Nevertheless most of the shots found targets dropping the churchmen in their tracks. But it wasn't enough.  
  
The survivors screamed again as they neared their goal. They were too close now. Too close for the disrupter cannons. Too close to give the marines disrupters time to recharge. Along the trench commands rang out and marines slung their disrupters and drew swords and axes from their sheaths. It was time to wet the blades.  
  
Tamorasp was in the centre of the line. He could see a mass of churchmen running towards them. Time seemed to slow. He was amazed at the details he could make out. The robes of the churchmen flapping in the breeze. The small chains and holy symbols that were part of their gear. The individual faces twisted and contorted in rage and hatred as they surged towards him. Then he noticed one of the churchman was raising a disrupter towards him. He froze. His mind refused to act. Fortunately his body remembered how to.  
  
As if in a dream he felt himself draw one of the disrupter pistols from his belt. As if in slow motion he felt himself bring it in line and press the firing stud. Then time seemed to unfreeze. The disrupter bolt blew a fist sized hole in the churchman's chest killing him instantly. Even as the first fell he drew and fired the second disrupter killing another. With smooth efficient motions he returned the disrupters to their holsters and then reached over his head for the sword at his back.  
Looking up he could see a churchman running straight at him, a sword extended in his hands. Tamorasp waited until he got closer. Then in a single movement he drew the sword at his back, lunging forward as he did so. The tip of churchman's sword passed harmlessly over his head. The tip of his hand and a half blade (1) took the churchman full in the throat. Before his momentum could carry him too far Tamorasp halted, twisted his hands and heaved. The churchman's body flew over his head like a bale of hay to land on the opposite side of the trench. He was already dead so Tamorasp paid him no mind. Breathing deeply he brought his sword into guard and waited. He did not have to wait long.  
  
A churchman jumped down into the trench bare meters away. Tamorasp swung with a two handed grip. Decapitating the churchman with a single stroke. Instantly others dropped into the trench after it. Snarling faces dressed in red. They reached for min with sharp blades. And Tamorasp Naghanashar gave himself to the dance. What followed was a blur of cuts, thrusts parries and swings. The trench was narrow and they had the advantage of numbers. But his sword gave him tremendous reach and he wielded it masterfully. He used long sweeping strokes to maintain the space around him. And anyone that entered that space died. Forged of New Damascus steel and wielded in both hands his sword cut through battle armour like a knife through hot butter. They tried to swamp him with their numbers. But the trench was too tight for them to encircle him, and crowding in just meant that they couldn't avoid his blade.  
  
Finally Tamorasp stood in the middle of a sea of red. The broken and shattered bodies of the churchmen that had tried to get to him. He was breathing hard and his muscles ached. But otherwise he was unhurt. Suddenly he became aware of a voice seemingly from far away.  
  
"Sir! Can you hear me Sir!" Finally the voice registered and he triggered his comm. implant.  
  
"I hear you Gunny, what happened?"  
  
Gunny Abbott sounded annoyed. "I was going to ask you the same question. We finally killed the last of those Bastards but I couldn't get through to you."  
  
"I had some problems of my own Gunny, but they're taken care of now. But did you mean what you said? We got them all? Its over?"  
  
Gunny Abbott sounded amused. "Over? You're kidding right Sir? This was just a probe. Next time they'll hit us seriously."  
  
………………………………………………………………………  
  
Tamorasp hadn't believed Gunny Abbott, but he had turned out to be right. Less than half an hour after the first wave was defeated a second had surged forth from the trees. This one was five times the size of the first group. Even Tamorasp could see that they had no chance of stopping this wave at the first trench. So they hadn't even tried. Instead the marines had poured disrupter and disrupter cannon fire into the oncoming horde. That took care of over a quarter of them, but the survivors had surged forward eager to come to grips with their opponents at close range. Only to see the marines turn tail and run for the lanes linking them to the second line of trenches.  
  
The churchmen had screamed and redoubled their efforts to catch up with the fleeing enemy. And run smack into the mine field before the first trench. Gunny Abbott had held the mines back during the first wave, certain that a bigger attack was to follow. Now his decision paid off. Fully half of the church forces were in the mine field when it activated. Not a single one survived. And the very ground was stained red with a colour far deeper than that of the Church Militants robes. But again the churchmen displayed their misplaced faith and fanaticism. They pressed on.  
  
Tamorasp was with the rearguard of one of the marine groups struggling to reach the second trench when the churchmen fell upon them. The marines beside him raised their disrupters and fired a quick volley knowing down the nearest churchmen. Then they drew their blades and stood ready. A wave of scarlet clad bodies threw themselves at them and broke like a wave against the shore. The churchmen may have been well equipped fanatics, but many of them had very little real training or experience with weapons. The marines trained every day in full armour with both disrupters and edged weapons and the difference showed. Soon a wall of red clad bodies started to pile at the marines feet. But it wasn't enough. The churchmen still had the weight of numbers. Inch by inch they slowly pushed the marines back. And all the while the fighting continued. Close, hard and dirty.  
  
Tamorasp was in trouble. His sword was just too big. In the earlier fight it had served him well. But now he was packed in tight by the marines around him and by the enemy in front of him. He couldn't swing his sword effectively for fear of hitting one of the marines. And the sword itself was too big and heavy. In this confined space he couldn't move it fast enough to parry or counter all the lunges against him. Several times it had only been his energy shield that had saved him and he couldn't rely on that forever. Suddenly he remembered another lesion of his grandfathers.  
  
"A knife fight and a duel are two very different things. Both have their own weapons, their own styles of fighting and their own objectives. There is only one similarity. Confuse the two and you will die."  
  
This was no longer a sword fight. Time to bring out the right tool for the job. Tamorasp waiting for his opponent to attempt a lunge. Then as his opponent was starting his move, he suddenly shifted his sword from his right hand to his left. The move put the churchman off. Tamorasp was able to get below his sword and bring him into a Corps a Corps. The two stood face to face, the locked hilts of their swords crossed before them. The churchman strained with both hands. Pushing down to knock Tamorasp blade away. With only one hand Tamorasp was unable to match his strength. Slowly the locked blades were pushed closer and closer to his face. The churchman snarled his eyes widening in triumph. The look changed to one of surprise as Tamorasp moved his right hand to his belt. Drew his Kukri and slashed it across the churchman's exposed belly. Neatly disembowelling him.  
  
Pushing the now unresisting corpse aside Tamorasp turned to face a new foe. Three churchmen came at him in a rush. Obviously aiming to bring him down with numbers. It's unfortunate for them that they didn't notice the faint blue glow around the blade of the kukri, but the result would have been the same.  
  
As the first one lunged forward Tamorasp lifted his sword to block and trap the blade. The churchman laughed in triumph and seeing his enemy's main weapon engaged the second churchman moved forward with an underarm lunge aiming to take Tamorasp in the belly. Or he tried to. As the blade moved forward Tamorasp swung the kukri. The swing cut the blade from the sword just below the hilt. The return swing took of the top of the churchman's head as easily as a hard boiled egg. The third church man overcame his surprise in time to see the kukri coming and raised his blade to parry.  
The kukri sliced right through it and buried itself briefly in his forehead.  
Tamorasp pulled it out with a quick jerk and turned his attention to the first churchman. The man saw staring open mouthed. He had time to mouth the words.  
"Monofilament blade." Before the kukri cut a red smile across his neck silencing him permanently.  
  
Monofilament blades. Swords with a built in generator that was used to create an energy field around the edge of the blade exactly one molecule thick. Such blades could literally cut through anything. Only the hardest super dense materials could even slow them down. Even an energy shield would shatter beneath one. They were the deadliest hand to hand weapons known to man. But as with every weapon they had drawbacks. The blades used up power at an incredible rate making them impractical for long term fights. But, Tamorasp reflected, sometimes a little edge is all that you need. He noticed that the churchmen were holding back a little now. Unwilling to get to close to that deadly blade. Well if Mohammed won't come to the mountain.  
  
With a sudden motion he sprang forward swinging his sword with all his might. Churchmen fell over themselves to get away. And those that were too slow fell before his blade. Others tried to get in close. That only brought them within range of the kukri. And as the blood spilled and the cries of the dying filled his ears Tamorasp Naghanashar gave himself fully to the dance. He moved graceful and terrible. He wielded death in each hand and above it all his face smiled in a deaths head grin as he reaped a bloody price from his foes.  
……………………………………………………………………  
  
The rain had slowed to a mild drizzle now. Only the thunder of the storm remained far above. But even its fury seemed to be abating. The ground was utterly soaked forming deep mud that seemed to suck hungrily at the boots of the marines that moved slowly and tiredly over it.  
Gunnery Sergeant Abbott stood on top of the berm and looked outwards. What had once been a neat series of trenches now looked like a scene from hell. Red clad bodies and parts of red clad bodies littered all of the trenched and the lanes connecting them. And intermingled with them were the black clad bodies of marines.  
  
Gunny Abbott shook his head and turned away. Of the hundred marines he had started out with barely forty were still alive and of them only twenty could walk. He couldn't even guess how many churchmen had lost their lives. It was impossible to tell. His marines slow retreat through the lanes between the trenches had allowed those lanes to be filled with church soldiers. Perfect targets for disrupter cannon. In the tight packed lanes it had been a slaughter. The churchmen had been unable to run or take cover. After the first few tries Abbot had expected them to give up. To try and find another way. They hadn't, instead they had kept coming. Wave after wave like an unending red tide. Like lemmings against a cliff they had hurled themselves at the guns and against the swords of the marines behind them. It had been utterly insane. But insane as it was it had almost succeeded. In the last attack they had gotten so close that Abbott had had to order the cannons fired at point blank range killing a few of his own men in the process. The marines had held all the advantages.  
High ground, fortifications, superior firepower and discipline. Yet despite that all they had almost gotten though. Except for one thing they may have.  
  
Abbott turned to look at a figure seated nearly. It was filthy. Its half armour caked in mud and blood. Numerous small and not so small wounds could be seen on its exposed limbs. It saw hunched over a massive sword embedded in the earth before it. Hands grasping the blades quillons, head resting against the pommel.  
  
Abbott moved to stand over the figure.  
"Sir?" he asked softly.  
A pair of red rimmed eyes filled with exhaustion looked up at him.  
  
"Gunny?" the voice was a dry croak.  
  
"How are you doing?"  
  
"I've been better."  
  
"Well Sir, for a first timer you did pretty well."  
  
That was an understatement. If there was one thing that had put a check in the church advance it was the sight of that berserk, blood drenched figure with that deadly sword and the even deadlier knife. Abbott had watched him from the berm and had hardly been able to believe his eyes. With a sword in his hand the kid was death on two feet. But it had still been a close thing. Abbot had had to order marines to grab him and draw him back to the lines to stop him from being isolated and surrounded. And in his opinion those men deserved some serious rewards for bravery for doing that. But strangely he hadn't fought the marines. He had only fought against the churchmen.  
After the last of the churchmen in the last attack had been killed he had simply collapsed, utterly exhausted. Now he looked well enough to talk and Abbott was going to get some answers.  
  
"What the hell was that anyway?" Tamorasp was silent for a moment then he replied.  
  
"The dance."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The dance. It's something sword masters are taught to achieve. We forget where we are. Forget who we are. The entire world becomes our bodies, our swords and the enemies before us. My teacher said I would never really experience it until I used it for real. Now I know what he meant."  
  
"This teacher, was he the same one that you earned the kukri from?" Tamorasp reached unconsciously to touch the oddly bent knife at his waist.  
"Yes, my Grandfather."  
  
"By the blessed Owen. A Swords master, a Gurka Swords master. Why the hell didn't you join the marines?"  
  
Tamorasp smiled tiredly. "This isn't Lionstone's time Gunny. The old skills aren't so accepted anymore." Tamorasp waved his hand around him to accentuate the point. The marines that were standing nearby flinched and looked away. Obviously disturbed by the figure in their midst. Abbott noticed  
  
"Yeah well I can't say I blame them kid. When you get going you are scary as all hell. I'm just glad you were on our side."  
  
"I'm just glad it's over now" Tamorasp's every word ached with fatigue.  
  
"It ain't over yet."  
  
Tamorasps head jerked up in surprise. "You don't think they'll come again?" he asked in disbelief. "After all the losses they've already suffered."  
  
Abbott stood straight. "Look around you sir. The storms easing. Soon it'll end and the fleet'll be able to bring in reinforcements." Abbott turned to look at the forest.  
"If they're going to try anything, it'll have to be soon."  
  
………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Justicar Theodore Elstric knelt in the muddy ground and asked god for guidance.  
Time was running out. Against all expectations, against all reason the vile heretics had been able to fight off every attack that his holy soldiers had mounted. Of the host he had once commanded only a fraction now remained. There was no way that they could finish their holy mission. That was unacceptable! That was to betray God. They were his soldiers they would find a way. But the only way he could see horrified him.  
Elstric was a hardened member of the church militant. Over many years he had committed and witness many unspeakable acts. But the though of doing this one chilled him. But it was the only way. To refuse to use it would be to fail god.  
His decision made he rose and moved to face his men.  
  
"We will use it." The red garbed monks, used to obedience only nodded solemnly. But one of the blue robed acolytes raised a hand in protest.  
"Bu.Bu But Lord Justicar. We have no idea if this is the real substance or the effect it will have. Even if it does work, to use such a substance in Gods name" The acolyte's voice trailed off as the muzzle of Elstric's disrupter was pointed in his face. "All means are justified if they further Gods work. That is our creed. But you raise a valid point. We have no idea if this is the real substance or if it will work." The acolyte looked up with a faint glimmer of hope.  
  
Elstric's lips curled in a sneer. "Therefore you will best it for us." He looked up at the four other blue robed acolytes.  
"All of you."  
  
The acolytes begged and protested, but the monks ruthlessly pushed them to the edge of the tree line. Finally resigned they turned and moved towards the trenches.  
  
"Gunny we've got movement!" Abbott looked up sharply and moved to the edge of the berm. Behind him Tamorasp got up slowly and followed.  
In the distance they could make out five figures dressed in blue emerge from the edge of the tree line. "What the hell. What do they expect to do with five men?"  
  
Tamorasp slid down the visor on his helmet and zoomed in on the scene. The figures were acolytes the churches equivalent of technicians. But they had no equipment or weapons. So what the hell were they doing here?  
As he watched one of the figures drew a canister from his robe. Then raising it to his lips proceeded to drink from it. The others followed suite. For a moment nothing happened. Then all three figures dropped to their knees, and screamed.  
The screams were loud and terrible. The sound of a being in torment, the sounds of a soul in hell. The sound reached each and everyone of the marines and chilled them to the bone.  
  
Then suddenly, deliberately one of the figures got to its feet, staring at the berm. Without warning it threw back it head and howled like a wild beast. As soon as it finished it started running towards the berm and the marines defending it. The others rapidly followed. Tamorasp stared at the figures in disbelief. They were moving incredibly, impossibly fast. Covering the ground with frightening speed. But there was something wrong with their movements. They alternated between running on two legs and on all fours. More like animals than men.  
  
The figures were more than half way to the berm when Gunny Abbott's voice rang out.  
"What the hell are you waiting for an engraved invitation? OPEN FIRE!"  
  
Marines rushed to obey. Disrupter shots rang out. But the figures were moving fast and were hard to hit. Tamorasp thought he saw a figure struck by a bolt simply ignore the bolt and keep coming. He shook his head. He must have been mistaken. No one just kept coming with a fist sized disrupter bolt through their chest. Then he saw the same figure's arm blown off by another shot. It just kept coming. Each of the figures just kept coming, even after taking multiple shots from the defending marines. They only stopped when their heads or their bodies were literally blown apart.  
  
The final figure had lost both of its arms when it reached the berm. It still managed to jump ten feet straight up the sheer face and lock its teeth round the throat of a marines who was too frozen with disbelief to respond. The marine screamed as the nightmare figure continued to work its teeth. Gunny Abbot charged forward axe raised and decapitated it with a massive blow. But it was too late for the marine, and the head remained locked in place.  
  
Marines gathered cautiously around the body.  
"What it the hell was that?" one asked.  
Slowly Tamorasp approached the corpse and knelt beside it. The marines edged further away. Moving very cautiously Tamorasp patted down the body until he found the cylinder.  
"What you got there sir?" asked Gunny Abbott.  
"I'm not sure. I saw each of them drinking from this before they charged us. I was wondering if."  
  
Tamorasp stared at the cylinder. It was made of clear plastic. In the bottom he could see a small quantity of a thick black liquid. Cautiously he raised it to his nose and sniffed. It smelled faintly of spices and blood. Suddenly he could no longer feel the pain of his wounds. New strength filled his body. He felt well he felt powerful. HE felt hunger. He wanted. HE NEEDED.  
  
With a cry he threw the cylinder away from him and crawled rapidly away. It landed near the top of the berm. With a sudden motion he drew his disrupter and fired. Obliterating it completely. Around him marines peaked from hastily found cover. They gazed at his as if he had gone mad.  
  
"Lieutenant what the hell was that for?" Gunny Abbott roared.  
Tamorasp turned to him, He was shaking. The disrupter still in his hand. This did nothing to ease the fears of those around him. With a shaking voice he replied.  
"I.. I think I know what that was." He hadn't been sure but the substance had triggered and old memory and now, having felt its effects, he was all but certain.  
  
Gunny Abbott didn't look impressed. "So what was it then?"  
  
"Wampry Blood." At the mention of that name every face even Gunny Abbott's paled. Marines crossed themselves and started saying short prayers.  
The Wampry were an old terror from LionStones time. They had been created as terror soldiers. A normal soldier was killed. His blood pumped out of him. Then he was refilled with an artificially created blood and revived. But what woke up was no longer human. It was a Wampry. Incredibly strong, incredibly fast, able to regenerate any but the most mortal of wounds the Wampry would have made great soldiers. Except for one thing. They were all complete and total psychopaths. Driven by the need to replenish their own blood with fresh human blood they had killed anyone and anything in their way. In the end they had been deemed too costly, too unreliable and too uncontrollable to be used. The last had been killed early in the great rebellion, but the legends of them lived on, especially in the fleet.  
  
No one doubted Tamorasp was right. Not after what they had just seen. "How the hell did they get Wampry blood? Who the hell would be insane enough to create that?" Rang out the voice of a marine.  
'The Durendal, who the hell do you think." Rang out another.  
Other voices started to rise in an excited babble.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Gunny Abbots voice cut through the rising noise.  
"It doesn't matter where they got it. But if they had that much they may have more. Now get back to your stations before." A beast like howl tore through the night drowning out his final words. Others rose after it. As one the marines turned towards the forest to see another wave of red clad figures emerge. They began to move towards them at a familiar terrifying speed.  
  
The marines reacted quickly. Rushing to take up disrupters and man cannon's. They all realised what they had to do. There were almost a hundred figures moving towards them. If they didn't stop them before they got close they were all dead. Marines aimed for headshots trying to take the figures down for good. They had plenty of incentive to do so. Some succeeded. But the red clad figures moved unbelievably quickly seeming even to dodge disrupter bolts. Each Marine stacked two or even three disrupters next to him. Even the wounded moved to the edge of the berm and started firing. The volume of fire increased and more and more figures fell and stayed down. But the others continued to charge onwards.  
The marines crewing the cannons looked for any group of the blood infected monks moving close together. With each blast they managed to kill two or three and damage as many more. But the Wampry monks covered the ground too fast and the cannons needed too much time to recharge. Twenty five of the monks reached the edge of the berm. The marines used their final surprise. Hand grenades were lifted and thrown. The ground below the berm disappeared it a cloud of dust and shrapnel. Above the explosions inhuman cries could be heard. The marines continued to prime and throw grenades until their entire stock was exhausted. Finally silence settled. It was over.  
  
Not Yet.  
  
Screaming in bloodlust nine blood crazed monks jumped out of the smoke onto the berm. There robes were bloodied and torn. Each appeared to be wounded terribly, missing eyes, limbs or patches of skin. But it didn't seem to slow them down. They fell on the marines like wolf pack on chickens. The marines desperately tried to fight back but they were tried from constant action. And they were facing an enemy that didn't seem to care how badly they were hurt.  
A monk jumped directly inform of a marine. The marine managed to bring up his disrupter and shoot it in the belly point blank. He blew a fist sized hole through the monk's body. In response the monk tore the marines head from his shoulders and paused to drink deeply of the blood that fountained from his neck before dropping the corpse and moving on.  
  
Everywhere the story was the same. Desperate marines tried to fight off the drugged demons that had fallen upon them. But they were in too close. And at this range they had all the advantages. Tamorasp saw a monk leap on the body of a marine. Instantly he sprang forward his earlier exhaustion forgotten in a fresh surge of fear induced adrenaline. His lunge took the monk in the chest, right where the heart should be. A killing blow. Apparently not. The monk turned to stare at him. Tamorasp noticed that it only had one good eye. The other dangled from the socket in a bloody mess. Suddenly the monk reached out and grabbed his sword with its free hand. Slowly it began to pull the sword toward itself. Impaling itself further. And bringing Tamorasp within reach of its arm. With a sudden motion Tamorasp dropped his hand to his belt, drew his kukri and brought it round in a horizontal slash that took the monk right in the throat. The monofilament blade parted flesh and bone easily and the head rolled off the neck to fall to the ground with a wet plop. The monks body jerked once, then finally gave up and died. But as he stood looking at the body of the now dead marine he noticed that the blue glow was absent from his kukri. The charge was exhausted, now it was nothing more than a knife.  
  
Suddenly a hand grabbed him from behind and drew him backward. He twisted trying to bring his sword to bear, but a harsh voice stopped him.  
  
"Come on Sir we've got to move."  
  
Gunny Abbott half carried half carried him backwards. Looking over his shoulder Tamorasp could see a line of marines had formed just before the entrance to the hive.  
Abbot continued to talk as he moved.  
  
'There's an air strike incoming. We just have to hold out for a few more."  
  
Out of the corner of his eye Tamorasp saw a red blur moving towards them. He tried to shout a warning but before he could do so the figure slammed into them. Tamorasp was sent sprawling to the ground. Gunny Abbott was knocked away. Turning over Tamorasp looked up to see the figure above him. Its robes and armour were torn and tattered, but it was otherwise largely intact. He noticed that the robes had traced of gold woven into them. The mark of a Justicar. Then he noticed its face. The eyes were red filled with madness. But he was drawn to look at the teeth which were stained red with blood. As he watched they widened in anticipation.  
  
With a sudden cry Gunny Abbott leapt at the Justicar. He brought his axe down in a massive swing. The Justicar had time to raise his arm to block, but the massive blow Cleaved straight through the arm, cutting it off below the shoulder and went on to bury itself in the Justicar's ribcage. Gunny Abbott jerked the blade trying to free it for another swing, but it was stuck fast. And as he tried the Justicar reached forward with its remaining good hand and crushed the Gunny's skull like an egg.  
  
Tamorasp screamed in horror and denial and grabbed his sword, but a swift kick from the Justicar sent it spinning from his hands. The Justicar dropped suddenly on top of him pinning him to the ground. It grabbed him round the neck with its remaining hand to hold him still and then slowly, maliciously brought its teeth down towards his neck.  
Tamorasp could see the teeth coming. Could smell the rotten breath of the Justicar. He waited until the teeth were a bare inche from his throat. Then suddenly he brought his free arm around, kukri reversed in his hand to trap the Justicar's head in a lock. The Justicar had time to widen its eyes in surprise. Then Tamorasp jerked his arm with all his fear induced strength. The kukri may no longer have had a monofilament edge, but it was razor sharp New Damascus steel. It sliced through the muscles and bones of the Justicars neck with ease, leaving the head hanging by a thread of flesh. A quick return cut severed it completely from the body, just to be sure.  
  
Tamorasp pushed the foul corpse off him and got jerkily to his feet. He was coated in blood. His entire body ached. Slowly he looked up. And saw death staring at him. Three surviving monks were standing meters away, staring at him. He didn't bother to look around. He knew he was too far from the other marines to make it before they could run him down. Peace settled in his heart and he lowered himself in a fighting crouch determined to die well. The monks only hesitated for an instant then they leapt as one.  
But even as they did so a high pitched wailing filled Tamorasp's ears, sounding like.  
A sudden shockwave slammed into the monks as they hung in mid air. Scattering them like leaves in a tornado. Tamorasp was also picked up and thrown with unforgiving force to crash against one of the walls of the berm. In his last moments he thought he felt ribs crack, then unconsciousness claimed him and he was falling into darkness.  
  
………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
Infirmary of the Nirvana: The present  
  
On minute all was quiet in the infirmary of the Nirvana. They next the peace was shattered by the wailing of alarms. Every monitoring system mounted above Tam's bed started screaming for assistance as the body in the bed started to thrash and jerk violently. Paiway had been nearby when it happened. At first she jumped like a scalded cat, wondering what she had done wrong. Then noticing the thrashing figure on the bed she moved towards all the while screaming for Duero to help.  
Just earlier that day Duero had been teaching her about the necessity of immobilising patients who were in the grip of a fit so that they would not hurt themselves. Now she saw an opportunity to try that for real. It was the worst thing she could have done.  
No sooner did she try to grab an arm then it twisted in her grip like a live thing. Suddenly free it grabbed her around the throat and began to squeeze. Paiway desperately tried to break its grip but it was no use. Suddenly she noticed that Tam's uncovered eye was staring at her. The eye blazed with intensity, but there was no recognition in it, only madness. Paiway could hear Duero running towards her but feared it would be too late. With her last strength she tried desperately to say a word. It came out barely more than a whisper.  
"Please" For a long moment nothing happened. Then suddenly the eye widened in shock and recognition and the hand abruptly let go. Paiway dropped to the floor gasping in relief and rapidly crawled away. Duero checked his mad dash and stopped cautiously on the other side of Tam's bed.  
"Tam. Tam can you hear me?" Tams head turned slowly to face Duero.  
"D-Duero?" It was half a question. "W-Where am I" "You're in the sickbay of the Nirvana my friend. You are safe." ………………………………………………………………………………… Some time later Magno's Meeting room:  
  
Magno sat alone at the head of the table in the meeting room behind the bridge. Suddenly there was a chime.  
  
"Captain we have the man here."  
  
"Very good bring him in."  
  
A moment latter Tam strode into the room flanked by two security guards. Magno studied him as he came in. Although Duero had removed the bandages vivid pink scars could still be seen on his face. His movements were slow and obviously painful. But he gave not outward sign of it. His face was like a mask.  
Magno nodded to the guards. They hesitated.  
"That will be all you can go." The guards looked like they were about to protest but then filed out silently casting waring glances at the back of the man.  
Magno waved Tamorasp to a chair. "Have a seat Tam, I'm sorry about that but the crew can get quite protective sometimes."  
  
He remained standing a look of shame deepening on his face. "No apology is necessary captain. I understand how they feel. I have tried to apologise to Paiway but she refuses to see me. Not that I blame her. Thank you for agreeing to see me"  
  
Magno waved this away. "I was preparing to visit you in the sick bay in any case. Really you should still be there. According to Duero you still need rest."  
  
Tam shook his head. "I've rested enough. I don't feel like sleeping for a while."  
  
"Bad dreams?" asked Magno quietly.  
  
"No. Bad memories." Magno's eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"So your memories have returned."  
  
"Tamorasp shook his head. "No I still feel there are some things missing. And some of the ones I have still make no sense. But I can remember much more now. I remember my childhood. I remember growing up. I remember who and what I was."  
  
"Well then it would seem introductions are in order. I am Magno Vivian Captain of the Pirate vessel Nirvana. And you are?"  
  
Tam's lips twitched in a brief smile. Then he straightened. His bearing suddenly formal. Suddenly he clicked his heels and saluted.  
  
"Tamorasp Naghanashar. Lieutenant of the Imperial Fleet. Formerly assigned to the Star Cruiser BlackSword."  
  
Magno stood taken aback by this for a moment. She was used to pompous behaviour from men. Bart was a prime example. But she didn't get that feeling from Tam from him his words felt real.  
  
"So Lieutenant. Where is this empire of yours?"  
  
Tam seemed to slump. "I don't know. But I do know that it cannot be anywhere near here." Magno frowned. Tam decided to answer the unspoken question.  
"Captain the empire I served is vast. It was made up of thousands of inhabited planets. It had made contact with numerous alien races. It had a history stretching back thousands of years. And we know for a fact we were predated by other human empires although only fragments about them now remain. There is no way that I could be in a place like this, where the technology is o different and where people have never even heard of the empire unless I am very far away from home indeed. What's more if Parfait is correct I could be separated from home not just by space but by time and reality."  
  
"So how do you plan to get home?"  
  
Tam's head was suddenly bowed as if in pain. "I don't know. Part of me, part of me isn't sure I want to."  
  
Magno looked into his eyes and saw a depth of pain in them.  
Again she motioned with her hand.  
"Sit." Reluctantly Tam complied.  
When he was seated Magno turned to face him.  
"Tell me about it?" At first he hesitated. Then he started slowly at first, but once he started it was like a tide breaking. He talked for a long while telling her everything he remembered about the Khrishnaar campaign. The BlackSword's attack on Damocles 3 and the final desperate defence of the marines on the surface.  
  
After he was finished Magno regarded him quietly. "That's a lot to take in at once. I can't imagine what it was like to live through."  
  
Tam nodded his head jerkily. But he seemed better, as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders. Magno reached a decision.  
  
"I want you to take the next few days off to rest and recover. Once you have done that we'll talk again about what you have said."  
  
Tam started to protest. "But Captain. Is should return to my shifts to my tasks."  
  
Magno held up a hand to silence him. "That will keep for the moment. What is important right now is that you heal. That's an order." Magno was surprised but oddly pleased when Tam suddenly sat straight and responded "Yes Sir." …………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Later Tam lay on the grass in the park below the bridge of the Nirvana. It was quiet. Most of the crew were on duty so he had the place almost to himself.  
It was a very peaceful beautiful place. But somehow he still felt uneasy.  
So when a sudden voice cried out "Mr Tam" he jerked into a sitting position just in time to see Dita come over the hill.  
  
"Oh Mr Tam there you are."  
  
"Hello Dita" Tam responded bemusedly as the young red head made her way forward and sat down next to him.  
  
"Dita heard you were sick."  
  
"No it's ok I'm feeling better now." "Oh" the redhead seemed strangely crestfallen at this news. Then she brightened.  
"Then Dita can still give you this as a present for getting better." Having said that she brought her hands out from behind her back, holding out a medium sized box. Tam accepted the box cautiously.  
"Thank you Dita. What is it?" he asked opening the box cautiously.  
  
Dita smiled. "Its women's food. Dita gave some to Mr Alien and he really liked it!"  
  
Women's food thought Tam what could that be. As soon as he opened the box the smell hit him and his mouth began to water. Suddenly before Dita could say another word he was ploughing through the contents of the lunchbox she had given him at an incredible rate. Wow thought Dita as she watched. He's almost as fast as Mr Alien.  
  
All too soon the bento was finished. Only very small crumbs remaining of the once very respectful meal. Tam sat back on the grass smiling blissfully. After weeks of those vile food cubes that had tasted like the best meal he had ever eaten. Suddenly he remembered his manners.  
  
"Dita thank you very much for that. It was wonderful. How can I repay you?"  
  
"Well actually Dita was wondering if you could fulfil your promise to her." Tam frowned in confusion.  
"Promise?" "To tell Dita about the Aliens when you remembered." "Oh that promise."  
  
The only memories about aliens he had right now he didn't really feel like remembering. But looking at the wide hopeful eyes of the girl next to him he didn't see how he could refuse. So he sat with her and told her about the peaceful race of the Khrishnaari. About how they lived in harmony with their world. About the beauty of their fabrics and the splendour of their queens. And as he remembered everything he had ever seen or heard about the Khrishnaari he remembered why he and the men he had fought with had sacrificed so much in that far away place. And as he sat next to this strange but innocent young girl, on a grassy hill, in a starship far away from there, his soul began to heal. …………………………….…………….…………………………………………..  
  
My God but that turned out to be a long chapter. I'm sorry it took so long but work and house hunting have kept me occupied. And then there was the chapter itself which seemed to grow in each part.  
This will be the last flashback into the DeathStalker, universe at least for a while. From now on I intend to follow the story in Vandread first stage more closely. abet with some changes here and there. For those of that may not have liked this trip to the Death Stalker universe I apologise but I felt it was necessary to set the scene for later.  
For those that enjoyed it I say, 1) Read the books, and 2) There will be more to come.  
  
As always reviews comments and criticism are welcomed.  
Regards to my loyal reviewers  
  
DarkBlade the Damned.  
  
(1) Hand and a half sword, also know as a Bastard Sword. So called because it is halfway between a full two handed Great Sword and the smaller Long Sword. Unlike Great Swords Bastard Swords also have a point so that they can be used for both swings and lunges. 


	7. VanStalker Chapter5: Duelling in the Des...

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.  
  
Vanstalker Chapter 5: Duelling in the Desert  
  
"So that's all he told you." Queried B.C.  
  
"Not all but that's most of it." Confirmed Magno.  
  
B.C. sat back and stared at her captain trying to puzzle through the reason for her actions. Some of the others around the table were much more direct.  
  
"But Captain!" Meia was standing at her place at the table, hands spread out on its surface leaning forward aggressively.  
"Why didn't you question him further as to what he remembers? He's finally admitted to knowing something about his past. Now we need to find out all we can about him."  
  
"I didn't know you were so interested in Tam Meia." Commented Gascognue.  
  
Meia stiffened slightly but gave no other reaction.  
  
"The man has exhibited some strange abilities. He's a potential threat to this ship. Of course I'm concerned about him."  
  
"It's a little strong to say that he's a potential threat Meia." replied Gascognue from her place at the table.  
"After all he's only ever used these abilities of his to help us. He hasn't even complained much, even when he has had reason to."  
  
"I agree that he doesn't complain as much as the other men." Every line of her posture indicated that she spoke the words with extreme reluctance.  
"But even so the fact that he destroyed all of those machines by himself indicates that he's dangerous. We still have no idea how he did that."  
  
"Apparently with a hammer." Gascognue commented dryly.  
  
Meia turned to her angrily. "I know he used a hammer. That doesn't explain how he did what he did. Parfait went over those machines. What was left of them at least. She said that they were all heavily armoured. It would have taken heavy weapons fire to stop those things. If he could take out the entire boarding party on his own then what else could he do?"  
  
"Then there's the rest." Commented B.C.  
  
Meia turned to face her in puzzlement "The rest?"  
  
BC turned to look at Magno for a moment who nodded her head in assent.  
"Duero brought some surprising facts about Tam to our attention. The first is that his body is seemingly able to heal itself at an incredible rate. According to the doctor any normal human should have died after the injuries he received. Even if they had survived they would have been crippled for life. But in a matter of days he was able to completely heal himself. The doctor also identified something else. Apparently he has a number of strange organs in his body. These organs can, at need, flood his system with adrenaline and endorphins dramatically increasing his strength and speed. That's probably how he managed to overcome the robots."  
  
Meia's face expressed her shock at this unexpected information.  
  
"There's another factors besides what we have already mentioned." Commented Gascongue. The others turned towards her attentively.  
  
"I overhead Barnette talking the other day. She was commenting about how just before the repair team opened the airlock Tam yelled at them to stop."  
  
"So?" Gascognue turned to face Meia.  
  
"So how did he know what was on other side of the airlock when no one else did? For that matter how did he know how to repair the waste water plant or survive the fumes in there while he did?"  
  
They sat around the table contemplating those facts. Meia was particularly disturbed. She had thought that the man may be a potential problem before. Now she was certain of it.  
  
"Well if we want to find out the answers to these questions why don't we ask him?" commented Magno.  
  
The others turned to stare at the captain in confusion when suddenly there was a chime. Magno pressed the intercom button on her desk.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You asked to see me Captain?"  
  
"Ah. Yes Tam, good timing. Come on in."  
  
The doors to the meeting room opened and Tam marched in. Instantly the four women within could tell that there was something different about him. They remembered the first time that he had come before them. Then he had been almost maddeningly calm and relaxed as if nothing could affect him. His appearance now was completely different.  
  
His stride was purposeful and driven. When he stopped he held himself at rigid attention. Even the way he moved had changed. He moved gracefully with a strange economy of motion. Even standing there at attention his body seemed to radiate the potential for action. Yes, after one look no one at the table could doubt that something was very different about their mysterious guest.  
  
Magno looked at the ramrod straight figure that stood at the foot of the table. Ramrod straight. Shoulders back, eyes staring into the space over her head.  
  
"Be at ease Tam, this isn't an interrogation."  
  
"Yes Captain."  
  
Tam moved his feet so that they were shoulder with apart. His arms moved from his sides to be locked folded behind his back. When he was finished the stance he had taken, although probably more comfortable, was only marginally less rigid than the one he had been standing in before.  
  
Around the table the women stared in surprise.  
Magno blew out a breath in exasperation. "Is that as relaxed as you can get?" Tam looks puzzled for a moment. Then he looked down on himself with a wiry smile.  
  
"Sorry, force of habit."  
  
With obvious effort he changed his stance to a less formal one, although it appeared to make him uncomfortable.  
  
"That's not a habit that you appear to have had before." Commented Meia.  
  
"I have memories now that I didn't have before."  
  
Magno interjected before any further questions could be asked. "Oh sit down young man and try to make yourself comfortable." She waited for Tam to seat himself in one of the conference table seats before continuing.  
  
"Now as the subject of your memories has come up and as you can understand the others are very curious to hear about them, why don't you give them a summarised version of what you told me."  
  
Tam nodded his ascent.  
"As I was recovering from my wounds I experience what I guess you would call a flashback. I felt like I was reliving a portion of my life. That flashback has helped me unlock some of my past. My childhood and some of the memories of who I was and where I came from. But there are still gaps in my memory. Some of the things that I remember, events which I feel occurred after what I experienced in the flashback make no sense. And I have no detailed memories of what happened after those events.  
  
"So what do you remember?" asked Gascognue.  
  
"My name is or was Tamorasp Naghanashar. I was a Lieutenant in the Imperial fleet. Deputy damage control officer of the imperial Starcruiser BlackSword. The events in the flashback, they were of the BlackSword's last mission. We were sent as part of a fleet to prevent the destruction of a planet by force of terrorists. We succeeded in our mission but the BlackSword was critically damaged. After that battle I and the remaining marines of the crew were assigned to guard one of the civilian cities on the planet in case the terrorists attempted to continue their attack on the ground.  
We were attacked, but I don't know what happened at the end. We were close to being overrun and I believe that the fleet called in an air strike on our location. I remember an explosion but that's all."  
  
"That's all." Meia's voice was incredulous.  
  
Tam turned to her impassively. "Yes."  
  
"After all that. All you remember is some old skirmish you were in. What about how you ended up here with us? How about where this supposed empire of yours is?"  
  
Tams voice when he spoke was icy. "I did not say that was all I remembered. I remember many other things. I remember growing up on Nepalla. I remember my Grandfather teaching me how to fight. I remember going to the academy at the sector fleet capital on Dirigent. But I don't see how those memories should mean anything to you or why I should share them. As to your other questions let me answer them both. I still have no idea how I ended up here but I am beginning to suspect that whatever sent me here sent me much further from my home than I previously thought."  
  
"What makes you say that?" asked B.C.  
  
"The simple fact that you have not heard of the empire."  
  
"Oh? Space is a big place. There are plenty of places we have probably never heard of. The only reason we know of the men of Tarak's empire is that they are in our home system. Why should we have heard of this little empire of yours?" asked Gascognue.  
  
Although her voice held a note of gentle mockery Tam answered her impassively. "Because Gascognue, it was not a 'little' empire. At the last census there were over a thousand inhabited worlds within the empire. That means worlds with a permanent population in the millions or billions. There were countless other small mining communities, prospecting colonies and space stations. Not to mention the worlds controlled by other races that were allied with or known to the empire. What's more the empire was comprised of, or knew of every world populated by … men." Tam paused before he said the last word as if he had been about to say something else. Then he continued. "So if I was in a sector of space anywhere near where the empire exists I would have expected someone to have heard about it. The fact that you have not suggests to me that I am very far from home."  
  
The women sat back and absorbed this stunned. What he was saying was preposterous. An empire of men that controlled a thousand planets! It was ludicrous. But somehow they felt that he wasn't lying. It was the way in which he said it more than anything else. There was no blustering or bombastic speeches like those they were by now used to hearing from Bart. Everything he had disclosed had been said coldly and dispassionately. He had been quoting cold hard facts and that stunned the women into silence.  
  
"But there is something else even beyond that. Over the last couple of days I've taken the opportunity to access some of your star charts. I can remember some basic asterogation data from my time at the academy and I thought it might show me a way to get home. Nothing I looked at was remotely familiar. The stars the, constellations, all are completely different. I could find no familiar stars, no points of reference. From that I can only conclude that where I am from is so far away that the stars cannot even be seen."  
  
The women relaxed a little in relief at this announcement. If this empire did exist at least it was so far away that they were never likely to run into it. However it still left the dilemma of their guest.  
  
It was Magno's voice that broke the silence. "So Lieutenant Tamorasp Naghanashar what are we going to do with you?"  
  
Tam flushed. "That's your decision Captain, and please call me Tam. It's fairly useless to claim a rank in a navy that may not even exist in this universe."  
  
Magno smiled slightly. "Ok. Tam. But that still leaves the question of what we are going to do with you."  
  
Tam smiled in reply "My response hasn't changed from the first time you asked that question Captain. The decision is in your hands. But I if you have no objection I would like to remain as part of the crew."  
  
Meia bristled slightly at this but the other women appeared passive or showed faint signs of being pleased at the response.  
  
"We would like you to stay as part of the crew Tam, but before I can offer that there are some questions I need to ask. Forgive me for this but as the captain the lives of the rest of the crew are part of my responsibility and I need you to answer these questions so I can determine if you pose a threat to the crew. Has Duero shown you the x-rays?"  
  
Tam looked troubled as he replied. "Yes."  
  
"Dou you have any idea what those organs could be or where they came from?"  
  
For several moments Tam sat there, a look of deep concentration on his face. Then he responded. "The organs themselves look to be genengineered."  
  
At their questioning looks he elaborated. "The empire had technology that could create new organs for specific purposes. But it was rarely used. Partly because it was incredibly expensive, partly because imperial medical technology was so effective at repairing even extreme physical damage that such organs were unnecessary. But other than that, no. I have no idea where they may have come from."  
  
"Is it possible that you were given these organs in a time you have yet to remember?"  
  
Tam grimaced as he replied. "Yes that's very possible. From what I remember the empire was on the verge of a civil war. Already the terrorists were bringing out terrible and forbidden weapons from the old days. It's possible that later in the war a decision was made to start modifying our own forces to increase their effectiveness."  
  
Magno nodded seemingly accepting this. Across the table Meia seemed about a angrily dispute his explanation, but a glance from Magno silenced her.  
  
"One other thing Tam. When you were with the repair team to the rear section. When you warned Celeste not to open the door. How did you know the machines were on the other side?"  
  
Tam sighed deeply, this was the question he had been dreading. He couldn't tell them about Shub or the AI's. He still didn't know what his memories of them meant. But he couldn't lie to them either. But would they believe the truth?  
  
"I could hear them."  
  
The women sat in silence at the simple explanation. "You could hear them." Said Magno carefully. "You mean you could hear them on the other side of the door?"  
  
Tam longed to agree to that simple explanation. But looking at Magno he realised that he could not. She had given him a chance on her ship. He owed her the truth.  
  
"No I mean that I could hear them communicating with each other. In the empire some remote machines receive instructions and directions via highspeed machine code. When I was with the repair party I could hear something like that code. I couldn't understand enough to tell what they were saying but I knew they were there."  
  
"But Tam, you didn't have a radio or a communicator. How did you hear them?" asked Gascognue.  
  
"I could hear them in my head." Tam replied, noting without surprise the looks of disbelief that appeared on the faces of those surrounding the table.  
  
"How is that possible?"  
  
Tam shook his head. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is." He was silent for a moment them he resumed.  
"When I was in the empire I had a comm. Implant. Most people do. It was small computer implanted in our brains. It allowed us to communicate and to access data from the nets. Duero says that there is no evidence of such an implant in my brain. It's possible that whatever process brought me here somehow merged the functions of the comm. implant with my body."  
  
If anything his audience appeared even more disbelieving, except for Magno.  
  
"Did your comm.. implant include a translator?"  
  
Tam blinked in surprise. "Yes it did."  
  
"Then if what you say is true that may explain how you were able to interpret and read our language without ever having learned it."  
  
Tam frowned in confusion before comprehension dawned. "Oh, you mean that time in the water recycling plant. Yes if I'm right that may explain it."  
  
The others around the table were bemused by this unexpected explanation to another question but Magno moved on before they could gather their thoughts.  
  
"Well then I see no reason why we should remove you from the ship. You are free to return to your assigned repair group."  
  
Meia was about to dispute this angrily but another sharp glance from Magno stopped her protest before it started.  
  
If Tam noticed the byplay he gave no sign. "Thank you captain, but there was one more thing I wanted to ask you."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I wanted to ask permission to use the training simulators to learn how to pilot the Vanguards."  
  
The others started in surprise and turned to stare at him after this unexpected request. But Magno simply replied with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"You no longer feel up to working in ship repairs?"  
  
"No captain it's not that. It's just, although repairs were once my specialty I lack the detailed knowledge to be really effective at it. To put it simply your technology is too different from what I'm used to."  
  
"You're not used to piloting the Vanguards either." Magno pointed out reasonably.  
  
"True. But the Vanguards are machines optimised for close quarters combat. And that is something I excel at."  
  
Magno nodded slowly. "Alright I think you've proved that point. But can you do it in a Vanguard?"  
  
"That's what I want to find out."  
  
Magno sat thoughtfully for a while before replying.  
"Ok. In any case according to Parfait most of the repairs and maintenance tasks have been completed for now. So for the next couple of days feel free to learn about the Vanguards. But I warn you, if I decide you are needed more in repairs then its their you will work if you want to stay on this ship. Clear?"  
  
Tam nodded his agreement. "Clear Captain. Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome. Now if you don't mind we have some other matters to discuss."  
  
Tam rose and nodded formally to each of the women around the table before seeing himself out.  
  
As soon as he was gone Magno raised her hand silencing the others before they could speak. "Before you start telling me why that may have been a bad idea let me explain my reasoning to you."  
  
She could see from the expressions on the others faces that she had barely halted a torrent of protests before they had begun. Each of the women around the table nodded before settling back to hear what she had to say.  
  
"Factor number one. Those machines, whatever they are, are still out there. Every time they attack us they seem to get a little bit stronger and have a more detailed knowledge of our capabilities. We're alone out here, cut off except for the resources that we have with us. Now we know that this man is a capable fighter, I believe that not making use of that is squandering a potentially valuable resource."  
  
Magno noted slow nods of agreement from B.C. and Gascognue, although Meia still looked ready to protest.  
  
"Finally if this man is a potential threat to us. An agent of this far away empire he claims to be from. Then where do you think he could do the most damage? Working on the Vanguards, which are confined to the launch bay? Or part of a repair crew with access to the entire ship?"  
  
Looks of dawning comprehension appeared on the faces of the women around the table.  
  
Magno nodded satisfied.  
"Now if that's settled lets move on to other business. Gascognue what's the supply situation like?"  
  
……………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Meanwhile in the Vanguard bay Hibiki was busy working on his partner.  
The damage from the last battle had long since been repaired but Hibiki was still learning all he could about his enhanced Vanguard and its capabilities. Besides the Vanguard bay was one of the few places on the ship where he could usually get away from the women. He was so engrossed in his work that he failed to notice a figure moving up behind him.  
  
"Jeez little brother, do you spend all your time with this machine? I'm surprised you don't sleep down here too."  
  
Hibiki started and jumped six inches straight up in the air before turning around an angry expression on his face.  
  
"Damn it Tam stop doing that!"  
  
The older man was trying, not very successfully, to conceal a smile.  
  
"Stop doing what?" he asked innocently.  
  
"Sneaking up on me like that! For a minute I thought you were." A look of brief panic crossed Hibiki's face before disappearing.  
  
"You thought I was what?" Replied Tam a knowing smile on his face.  
  
"Never mind! Just stop sneaking up on me."  
  
"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you little brother. Its not my fault that you were so engrossed in what you were doing you didn't hear me coming." Said the older man as he leaned against one of the legs of the vanguard.  
  
"And that's another thing. Why do you call me little brother when we're not related?"  
  
Tam smiled mischievously "Well you are littler than me."  
  
He laughed at the glower that formed on Hibiki's face, and then became serious.  
  
"I don't know why. I've never had a brother little or otherwise. I guess I've started to think of you as one. If it bothers you then I'll stop."  
  
Hibiki's expression abruptly changed at this unexpected admission. "No. No it's ok. I don't mind. I was just curious that's all."  
  
For the moment the two men smiled at each other, then Tam moved to break the silence.  
  
"Well I got a chance to speak to the Captain today and guess what she said?  
  
"What." Asked Hibiki disinterestedly as he turned back to what he was working on.  
  
"She's given me permission to start training to pilot the Vanguards."  
  
"The old lady said what?" Hibiki asked in shock, turning to Tam his eyes wide.  
  
"Yep" Tam replied with a grin  
  
Hibiki turned and stood. "That's great. Finally I'll have another man to fight beside me. Together we'll show those women how real men fight."  
  
As he spoke he started to move around, making a series of slashes with the wrench in his hand as if it was a sword.  
  
This would have been more impressive if he hadn't managed to drop the wrench on his foot.  
  
Hibiki yelped and grabbed his foot as the wrench fell to the floor with a clang. He then proceeded to hop around the room on one foot in a vain effort to make the pain subside.  
  
When he finally finished Hibiki turned to see Tam staring at him, a troubled look on his face.  
  
"Little brother who taught you how to use a sword?"  
  
"What?" demanded Hibiki. "I'm a man! I know all I need to know about fighting." Replied the boy a confident look on his face.  
  
This confidence rapidly wavered when faced with Tam's unblinking stare and sceptical expression.  
  
"Well no one really. I've just acted on my instincts. Done what I thought was best. And so far I've done pretty well." He replied defiantly.  
  
Tam nodded his head in acquiescence,  
"No argument little brother. So far you have done well. But if you will pardon me for saying so it is fairly obvious that you are untrained. Luck and enthusiasm will only carry you so far. After that it's a matter of training and experience."  
  
"Well I've never had the opportunity to get either of those." Commented Hibiki.  
  
"Something I plan to rectify." Replied Tam. After he finished speaking something caught his eye and he moved to a cluster of spare tools in one of the Vanguard bays.  
  
Hibiki meanwhile turned to stare at him wide eyed. "You're going to teach me to fight? When?"  
  
Tam picked up a broom handle and removed the brush with a quick twist. He took a grip on the long wooden handle and then with a sharp motion, brought its centre down against his upraised knee. Snapping the handle and leaving to roughly arm length pieces of wood. Hefting the two he tossed the smaller one to Hibiki who caught it awkwardly.  
  
"Right now."  
  
Hibiki took a two handed grip on his length of wood and moved forward with a wild cry. Eager to show his skill.  
  
Tam watched his approach. He could not stop himself from shaking his head slightly.  
So much to learn. 'You are going to hate me for doing this too you little brother'. He thought to himself. 'But hopefully like me one day you will realise its value.' And then there was no more time for thought. Easily and gracefully he moved to avoid Hibiki's clumsy attack and then moved to launch his own, his movements a blur.  
  
And for a long time the clack on wood on wood rang out across the deck. Frequently interspaced with sharp cries of pain.  
  
Several days later:  
  
The Nirvana cruised through space. Ahead its destination could be seen. A dusty orange world.  
  
In the conference room B.C. and Magno were discussing the planet ahead.  
  
"This world? But it appears to be dead."  
  
B.C. turned from where she was standing near the view screen to face where the captain was sitting. "Yes we haven't been able to pick up any signs of life. But we have been able to detect evidence of artificial structures on the long range scans. Which would seem to indicate that until recently the planet was inhabited. Boss lets send a landing party down to the planet. If its population was the victim of an attack by the machines we've been running into then we may be able to get some information about who they are and what they are after."  
  
Magno frowned thoughtfully as she stared at the screen.  
………………………………………………………………  
  
Meanwhile in the Vanguard hanger.  
  
As usually the hanger deck was quiet and almost deserted. The only sign of life was coming from the bulky gold and cream Vanguard that stood out from its brothers like a sword in a silverware set. If one looked closely at the vanguard a diminutive figure could be seen standing on one of the shoulders half buried in one of the access panels.  
  
Hibiki closed the panel he was working on with a weary sign. He was utterly exhausted and for once it was not with the effort of keeping his partner maintained.  
  
When Tam had said that he was going to teach him how to fight he had initially been elated. That elation had died quickly. After his victories against the harvester attacks Hibiki had grown to feel quite confident with his skill at fighting. Five minutes with Tam had rapidly disabused him of that. Initially he had charged in confident of an easy strike. Tam had simply moved gracefully out of the way and proceeded to counter attack with a strike that Hibiki barely had time to block. But then it was too late Tam had taken the initiative of the fight and he never let Hibiki regain it. For the next 5 minutes he had chased Hibiki around the hangar deck. Always attacking, never giving Hibiki an opportunity to catch his balance or his breath. By then end of that time Hibiki was more exhausted then he could ever remember being in his life. And the lesson was just beginning.  
  
Since that first day he had practised sword fighting with Tam at least three hours each day. Usually he would find himself rudely woken out of bed for an early morning session of exercises including running and calisthetics. Then they would have sword practise for at least an hour. After that they would get cleaned up and Tam would spend a few hours in the simulators while Hibiki either went back to bed or went to work on his partner. Then before lunch they would have another hour long session before breaking to work on the Vanguards for the afternoon and then having another hour long session before dinner.  
  
On the first day of this, his body weak from exhaustion and covered with painful bruises where Tams blows had gotten through, Hibiki had had enough. He threw down his practise stick. Angry and in pain he had yelled at Tam telling him how he didn't need him or his teaching. That as long as he had his partner he would be able to overcome any enemy. Hibiki remember standing their trembling with righteous rage. Tam hand simply stared at him for a few moments waiting for him to calm down before replying.  
  
"That's Bullshit little brother and you know it." The words were spoken calmly, soothingly and Tam raised his hand to stop Hibiki's angry retort before it could start.  
"Even in your first battle you didn't win alone. It needed the combined power of your machine and Dita's to overcome the enemy. Likewise the last time when you had to join with Meia to stop the space urchin (as everyone was now referring to the spiked sphere that had attacked them a few weeks ago). You couldn't win alone then. You have never been able to fight alone. As you say you have always had your 'partner' with you." "And what's wrong with that!" retorted Hibiki angrily.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with fighting together with others little brother. Knowing how to work as a team is a strength not a weakness. But it can be a weakness if you cannot fight alone." Tam paused here and stared directly into Hibiki's eyes.  
  
"What will you do if you have to fight without others to help you? What will you do if you have to fight without your partner? There are no rules in war little brother. The enemy is not always going to fight when you are ready for them. And our enemy is growing stronger."  
  
Hibiki looked up at Tam in surprise.  
  
Tam smiled back at him wryly. Then he bent down to pick up the stick Hibiki had discarded "Haven't you noticed little brother? Each time they attack us they are using different techniques, different methods. Each attack is a little bit stronger, a little bit harder to counter. That means if the force levels stay as they are it's only a matter of time before they find a way to overcome us. Unless …?" as he finished his question he held the stick out to Hibiki.  
  
Hibiki stared at the stick for a long moment. Then with careful deliberation he reached out and took it. "Unless we become stronger ourselves."  
  
Tam nodded. "I am being hard on you with this training little brother. I am pushing you as hard as I dare and maybe harder than I should. But if I am harsh with you, our enemy will be much harsher and far less forgiving than I."  
  
Hibiki stared at Tam for a moment. Then he nodded his head. He still didn't like this, but he could accept it.  
  
Tam nodded in reply, then brought his stick up to guard. "Then let us begin again."  
  
And Hibiki readied himself to meet him, much more warily this time.  
  
And Hibiki admitted he training had been helping. It was just that there was so much to learn. The grip of the sword. The way to stand. The way to move. Then there were all the moves of fighting itself. The slashes, the lunges, the parries the ripostes. Tam had put him through drills until he felt like his mind was going numb. There was just so much to remember and every time he forgot to do something properly Tams stick was there to wack the offending spot. Hard. Tam appeared to be a great believer in pain as a teacher.  
  
"He really believes in being rough on people. Right partner?" Hibiki commented, not anticipating that he had anyone other than the Vanguard for an audience.  
  
Just as he finished speaking he heard a faint sound behind him. Turing to find the source his exhausted arms lost their grip on the Vanguards Torso leaving him to drop sprawled to the catwalk a few feet below.  
  
Hibiki looked up blearily only to find a concerned pair of blue eyes in a familiar (if upside down) red haired face looking down at him. Oh great. Thought Hibiki. I wonder if I have the energy to run.  
  
But Dita only looked down at him and asked in a concerned voice.  
"Are you ok?" …………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
A short while later Hibiki sat dressed only in his loincloth on one of the pallets in the infirmary. As Duero attached medical sensors to the key points on his body.  
  
He appeared even more exhausted than before. Although when Duero began squeezing his thigh he suddenly became much more active. Jerking up in shock before curling up defensively and waving his arms to fend the doctor off.  
  
"What are you doing?" Yelled Hibiki in surprise.  
  
Duero remained unflappable as always. "It's a method of diagnosis."  
  
"Well do it without toughing strange places!" retorted Hibiki as he grew red with embarrassment.  
  
Duero ignored his outburst and moved closer. "You look pretty tired. What have you been doing lately?"  
  
"Well Tam's been teaching me how to fight lately and it's pretty tiring."  
  
"Teaching you how to fight?" Commented Duero in surprise. "Is that what you have been doing in those additional exercise sessions?" The doctor usually joined them for the first part of their exercises in the morning but had to leave early to get to the infirmary.  
  
"Well Tam pushes me pretty hard. And between him and getting caught up with those women and all. Fighting those machines. It does get pretty tiring you know?"  
  
Duero stared back at Hibiki. "I can understand you wanting to fight to defend this ship. But why are you asking Tam to teach you how to fight. You have that machine don't you?"  
  
"Well because." Hibiki's reply was interrupted by Paiway interjecting herself in the conversation.  
  
"If he's feeling tired he should spend time in the Jacuzzi. That's a sure cure."  
  
"Jac ussi?" asked Duero ………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
It was probably fortunate that Tam had never heard of the Jacuzzi on board the ship. His likely response of "What the Hell kind of a fighting ship has a beauty salon on board?" would have been unlikely to further endear him to the crew.  
  
Yet sure enough, right at that moment several of the dread pilots were being attended to by the skilled staff of what, many of the women of the crew, would have considered one of the most important departments on the ship.  
  
Jura sat stretched out in a chair dresses only in a towel while four of the attendants hovered around her. Two to deal with the nails on her hands. One to massage her legs and the other to attend to one of her most important features. Her hair.  
  
Jura signed in contentment.  
"Battles are bad for the hair." She commented.  
  
The attendant looked up. "Don't worry I'm here to preserve your beauty Jura."  
  
"Please. IF my hairs not set I don't feel like fighting anymore." The attendant nodded and turned away to start work. As she moved Jura noticed a figure sitting on one of the hot tubs.  
  
"Meia! Do you want to get thinner?"  
  
Meia replied without looking around. "Useless fat gets in the way during combat."  
  
"But your breasts will get smaller" warned Jura.  
  
Meia smirked. "Don't worry I'm taking care of myself" She settled herself in the tub more comfortably. Lately she had felt an uncommon need to relax and so she had come here. Before spending time in the hot tubs had always helped her to relax and clear her mind. But now for the first time it wasn't doing any good. Her thoughts kept returning to their mysterious crew member form the distant empire.  
  
'That man.' She thought to herself. 'Why can't I get him out of my head?' …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Elsewhere Dita sat before the carrousel in the mess hall watching as the various kind of dishes paraded slowly before her paying close attention to the calorie markers stuck into them.  
  
Just then Barnette came up next to her and reached out eagerly for a large steak. But the little red head was quicker grabbing it just before Barnette could reach it.  
"Got it!" she yelled happily.  
  
Barnette jerked up in surprise and shock.  
"Dita that's high calorie" she said warningly.  
  
"That's fine Barnette. He said he felt like he doesn't have enough energy." Replied the energetic red head as she made off with the plate.  
  
Barnette's eyes widened further in shock. 'He'? Did that mean that Dita was still spending time with that man? Barnette turned to follow her to warn her that that man was dangerous and not to be trusted. When her eyes caught sight of another figure.  
  
Tam was sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall. He had been a regular there ever since he had discovered that there was real food on the Nirvana. And not even the unfriendly, and in come cases outright hostile, stares of some of the crew had been enough to keep him away. Barnette also noticed that seated at the same table were some of the members of the repair crew he had worked with and a girl from the register. They were seated a little away from him and it did not appear that they were including him in whatever conversation they were having. But unlike the rest of the crew they did not appear to be trying to avoid him either.  
……………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Meanwhile on the bridge Ezera was engaged in a detailed scan of the planets surface.  
The main view screen zeroed in on a sector of the planet. Ezera bent over the consol to interpret the readings.  
  
"Heat source identified on the planet. It's hard to see because of the atmospheric disturbance, but there is definitely a artificial structure with a power source down there." Reported Ezera  
  
B.C. Turned to Magno from where she was standing next to the captain's chair. "Let's go down there and see if we can find anything."  
  
Magno sighed "Our kitchen is also starting to get empty. I guess it's possible we'll find some supplies down there." Turning she looked at her second.  
"Well I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."  
  
"Thank you Captain." Responded B.C. Then she turned and started issuing orders to the bridge crew.  
"Commence climate observation. Calculate time for landing." "Understood" came back the response.  
………………………………………………………………………………………… Dita was crouched in the mess bay. Her arms loaded down with food. Mr Alien had really appreciated the food she had brought him. He had even said thank you before running off. Maybe that was the way to get Mr alien to talk to her. To bring him food!  
So to that end she raided the galley for as much as she could carry.  
She was just about to make a dash for the exit when suddenly a voice rang out over the ships intercom. "To all pilots and crew. In order to conduct the planet landing each pilot will begin Vanguard simulation training immediately."  
  
In the infirmary Hibiki had just finished getting dressed when he overhead the announcement. His reaction was predictable.  
  
"What! They're going to let the women use the Vanguards!" …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
If Hibiki's shock at the announcement had been bad, the shock he received on his arrival as he ran all the way from the infirmary to the Vanguard bay was far worse.  
The long rows of identical gunmetal grey Vanguards were gone.  
All had now been painted in bright primary colours. Covered with designs such as stars and circles. The colours ranged from a vivid lime green to hot pink and were utterly alien to Hibiki's Tarak brought up standards.  
  
Meia, Jura and Barnette were watching the engineers finish painting the final Vanguards.  
"Really even if we can't go down to the planet in our Dreads. Of all things we have to use the men's Vanguards." Commented Barnette with distaste.  
  
Meia also stood with a sour expression on her face.  
  
Only Jura had a faint smile.  
"Whatever's fine with Jura." She commented as she turned to face her Vanguard, which had been painted a bright scarlet and equipped with a long slashing sword in a shoulder sheath. "As long as I can do the flashing uniting." She whispered, too low for her companions to hear.  
  
Bart chose that moment to appear on the scene.  
"Everyone, if you have any questions ask me! I've endured tough training in military school. In other words I know everything about the Vanguards!" Knowing Bart his spiel may have gone on for a fair bit longer if not for the timely intervention of one of the engineers float pallets which dropped down from above. Knocking him to the ground but stopping before it could do any read damage.  
  
"Hey what are you doing down there?" cried out the voice of an annoyed engineer.  
"We're busy here so don't get in our way."  
  
This was the scene that greeted Hibiki's eyes as he finally reached the hangar. Driven to a panic at the though of what the women may have done to his partner. And with reason. For at that moment Dita stood on that catwalk in front of his Vanguard. A paint gun held in both hands. "I'll make Mr Aliens Pretty, Pretty too." Said the redhead as she took careful aim at the Vanguard.  
  
"WAIT." Yelled Hibiki as he raced up the catwalk to put himself in the path of the spray.  
  
He succeeded. Just in time to received a full blast from the paint gun. Turning one half of his body a bright pink and leaving a large Hibiki shaped centre in the spot of pink that now covered most of the Vanguards torso.  
  
"What are you doing?" He yelled at Dita.  
  
But the redhead appeared oblivious to his rage. "Wow a pink alien how cute!"  
  
Hibiki signed in exasperation. Well at least it was only her. It could have been worse, it could have been.  
A choking sound made him turn around swiftly.  
  
Tam stood at the foot of the Vanguard. He was plainly endeavouring mightily to keep a straight face. And failing miserably. "Little brother I have to tell you. Pink is really not your colour." At that Tam finally lost it and bust out laughing.  
Hibiki could only sit and fume as Tam struggled to get himself back under control.  
He only succeeded when he noticed another engineer moving towards another Vanguard a few cells down that was partly covered with a tarp.  
  
"Hey wait." Tam yelled as he turned and started running towards the spot.  
The engineer in the meantime had picked up the tarp and tugged it down. As she turned curiously at the sound of Tams voice she pulled it further. Until the tarp slid down to reveal the Vanguard underneath.  
  
It was Black. Not dark, not grey, not shadowed. Black. The black of a moonless night with heavy clouds. A black darker than the depths of space, which have the stars to light them.  
Well at least most of it was. The green jewel like eye that dominated the centre of the Vanguards head was still there. And faint highlights of silver could be seen on the shoulders, arms and legs. But the rest of the Vanguard was as black as utter darkness.  
  
The engineer, and a few of the others standing nearby turned to look at it in shock. "Who did this?" One of them asked.  
  
"I did" replied Tam.  
They turned to star at him in shock.  
"But why?" another one asked.  
  
Tam shrugged. "It's the Vanguard I'm going to use. I wanted it to be in colours that felt familiar."  
  
"What do you mean it's the Vanguard you're going to use?" an angry female voice rang out.  
  
Tam turned to see Meia, Jura and Barnette standing in a group. He nodded politely.  
"Hello Meia. Didn't the captain tell you?"  
  
"Tell us what." Asked Barnette.  
  
"I'm going down to the surface with the landing party."  
  
"You're what?" Cried out Barnette anger and disbelief tingeing her voice.  
  
Meia appeared to be able to control her emotions better.  
"Why did the captain select you to be part of the landing party?" Tam shrugged. "I assume it's because I'm the second most Vanguard pilot on this ship after Hibiki. Given all the time I've spent in the simulators over the past two weeks. By the way, that reminds me. Aren't you scheduled to commence your simulator training soon?"  
  
Meia's face twitched slightly. For a moment Tam thought she was going to respond. Then without another word she turned away and headed for the lifts. Jura and Barnette turned to follow calling out for Dita to join them as they passed.  
  
A moment later Hibiki stepped up to join Tam.  
"What was all that about?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing much little brother, I just reminded them that they're late for their simulator training."  
  
"So the women are really going to use the Vanguards?"  
  
"Looks that way." Replied Tam, then he noticed the troubled look on Hibiki's face.  
  
"Why little brother what's wrong?"  
  
Hibiki shook himself. "It's stupid. There's no way that women would be able to understand machines like the Vanguards."  
  
Tam chuckled. "Well I tell you what. Lets get you cleaned up, and then we'll go and see how they're doing with their training." That said he settled an arm on the younger mans paint free shoulder and started to steer him away from the hangar.  
  
As they were leaving Hibiki raised another question. "Hey Tam. Why did you choose Black and Silver for your Vanguard?"  
  
The older man paused for a second before replying. "Where I came from, the Marines, soldiers taught to fight on land and in space, wore black and silver. I just felt it was appropriate." Hibiki shrugged accepting the answer.  
And, thought Tam in the privacy of his own mind, because Black and Silver are the colours of Death. Which feels even more appropriate to me.  
…………………………………………………………………………………  
  
Later Tam, Hibiki, Bart and Duero were observing the training of the female dread pilots in the simulators. Things were not going well.  
  
The women had mastered the basic functions of moving around and manipulating objects on land fairly easily, once they got used to the odd motion of the Vanguards.  
But now the training had moved to space combat and things were starting to come apart.  
  
Tam watched as Jura's Vanguard moved itself forward to attack three others. She sliced forward with her armblade but was blocked by the other Vanguard. Her Vanguard then started to tumble forwards off balance. Oddly enough this made the attack more successful. But only because the wildly flailing legs of Jura's Vanguard managed to connect with the other, knocking it away.  
  
Inside her simulator cockpit Jura cried out in frustration. "I hate this. Why can't this thing move around more elegantly? Uggh, I give up." That said the tall blonde opened her canopy and stalked out of the simulator room.  
  
The three men watched her depart from the simulator control room. "I told you so." Remarked Hibiki. "There's no way a women can pilot a Vanguard."  
  
"It's not that little brother. They demonstrated that they can operate them on land fairly well. It just looks like they have no experience fighting in zero G."  
  
Hibiki turned to Tam in surprise. "But how can that be. They're Dread pilots. They fight out in space all the time."  
  
Tam's mouth twisted. "They pilot high speed attack fighters in space, few of them seem to have any experience with hand to hand fighting in zero G. And trust me there's a world of difference between the two."  
  
Meanwhile something on the bank on monitors before them had caught Duero's attention. Tam looked forward to see what it was.  
The doctor was staring at Meia's vital signs monitor. Tam noticed that her heart rate was way above normal. The cockpit view on the monitors showed her breathing deeply, her face streaming with sweat. What's wrong with her? He wondered.  
………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
Meia slammed her hand against the side of the simulator cockpit. One the view screen the simulator informed her that she had died yet again.  
She breathed in huge gasps of air, trying desperately to relieve the tension inside her. 'What is wrong with me?' she thought. 'I've been in combat many times before. I mastered piloting the Dreads years ago. Why is it so hard to get used to this machine?  
  
Just then a view screen lit up on her cockpit display showing the face of the male doctor. A moment later his voice came over the comms.  
"Is there a medical priority system in Mejere?"  
  
Meia face settled into a scowl and turned to face the doctor's image.  
  
Duero continued. "On Tarak a doctor has the authority to prevent a pilots launch in cases like this. Do you agree?"  
  
"No" Weak though she apparently was that one word was full of determination.  
  
Duero nodded slightly. "Then change your FOV to all directions. That should relieve some of pressure you are feeling."  
  
"Leave me alone." Retorted Meia angrily her blue eyes blazing. "I don't need help from anyone. I'll overcome the situation by myself" …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Meanwhile Tam watched the exchange with interest from the observation room. Bart was occupied reading a manual on Vanguard operation. Hibiki in the meantime had grown bored and decided to get back to cleaning his partner.  
  
Unfortunately he wasn't looking where he was going and suddenly collided with something warm and pliant.  
Jura stared down at the face of the man that was currently wedged between her breasts.  
"Just so you know. Next time we go out there you are going to do that uniting thing with me. Remember that." Said the tall blonde as she turned to walk away leaving a very confused Hibiki behind her.  
  
Perhaps fortunately Tam hadn't noticed this. He was too busy watching the scene down in the simulator room …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
In the room the canopy on one of the simulators opened to reveal Meia. She appeared utterly exhausted. Still breathing heavily she lay sprawled over the simulator controls. Far too tired to notice Duero's quiet approach.  
  
"I'm worried about you." Said Duero. "The sudden change in your pulse rate appears to be psychological. Does anything come to mind?"  
  
Wearily Meia raised her head to look at the doctor and smirked. "Hmph! Stop making things up doctor. This is just stress. Overwork."  
  
Duero didn't even blink before responding. "You're getting upset. This is pretty serious."  
  
Angrily Meia pushed herself up and climbed out of the simulator. "I told you I'm Fine!" But actions put lie to her words. As she began to walk away she stumbled and almost fell. Fortunately Duero was close enough to catch her. But as soon as she had her balance she pushed him away and started to walk on her own.  
  
Suddenly she stopped and turned to the doctor.  
"Too many questions are annoying." And with that she left.  
  
She didn't notice Tam staring at her. Or the thoughtful expression on his face.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Several hours later the event they had been waiting for finally occurred.  
A break finally opened in the dust storm that covered the planets surface. After days of waiting B.C ordered an immediate launch of Vanguards.  
  
Hibiki was the first one out of the hangar. For the past few days he had been struggling to avoid the women on the ship. First Dita and then funnily enough Jura and Barnette, had started chasing him around. Now finally he could go somewhere he could be away from the women. At least for a while.  
  
Tam, Dita, Barnette and Jura followed soon after riding one of the drop ships that the women had taken the time to assemble.  
  
The strange metamorphosis that had come over Hibiki's Vanguard when the pirate ship had merged with the Ikazuchi had also outfitted it with a set of thrusters far superior to the standard Vanguards the others piloted. While not as fast or as mobile as one of the women's Dreads, Hibiki's Vanguard was more than capable of rapidly moving and manoeuvring in space.  
  
The standard Vanguards with their much weaker thrusters, had to rely on the drop ship to get them down with any kind of speed.  
  
The dropship was an extremely simple affair. Little more than a sled with thrusters, Harnesses for the Vanguards and a set of manual controls for the lead pilot. 'But it does appear to be effective.' Thought Tam to himself.  
  
Suddenly the drop ship jerked to the side and started to accelerate, throwing Tam around in his cockpit. Jura was piloting the drop ship down and she had apparently sped up to keep pace with Hibiki.  
  
Tam was about to complain when suddenly he noticed the external temperature gauges were rising. They were entering the planets atmosphere. Tam watched the gauges closely, but they ceased to rise well before the danger zone. Jura had brought them in a perfect re-entry, using the drop ships head shield to take the majority of the re-entry force. Tams eyes widened, impressed. Her first time in a real Vanguard and she had performed the complicated manoeuvre perfectly. She may be vain and attention seeking. But she was an excellent pilot.  
  
Suddenly they were through the upper atmosphere. Automatically the drop ship Broke apart. An automatic part of the design process it was intended to create sensor ghosts on approach to hinder incoming fire from a hostile planet. This planet showed all signs of being dead, but they weren't taking any chances.  
  
For a moment Tam found himself in free fall. They the training of the last few weeks took over and he flipped the controls to activate his landing chute. He noticed that the others in the group had all already done so. For a moment he considered what they must appear like to anyone that might be observing from the ground. A group of giant metal Cyclops's using giant metal umbrellas to fall to the earth. If there was anyone hostile down their he expected that the sight would have them so incapacitated by laughter they wouldn't be able to target them until they were on the ground.  
But all jokes aside, the chutes appeared to be doing their job, slowing their decent to a safe rate. 'And as long as they do that' Tam thought to himself 'I don't care how ridiculous they look.'  
  
As they neared the ground Tam looked down at the facility that was starting to take shape below them. It was the remains of what had obviously once been a substantial city. There were a number of multi-storey buildings in a variety of configurations. But as he descended further he noticed that the buildings appeared to be falling apart. Either through damage or neglect and much of the area was covered in sand. Varying from a fine coating of dust, to whole dunes that seem to have sprung up on what had once been cleared areas between the buildings. Plainly no one had been here for a long time. But if that was the case then who had built this place. And where were they now?  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
Meanwhile back on the Nirvana Meia was desperately hurrying down to the Vanguard hangar. She ran through the final set of doors only to find the hangar empty of personnel. One of the two drop ships that had been prepped for the mission was missing. As she looked round she noticed that five Vanguards, including Hibiki's were also missing. "Damn" she swore under her breath. She had been in the Jacuzzi desperately trying to relax when the call came through. She had been so preoccupied she hadn't even heard it until one of the attendants had asked her if she wasn't part of the landing team.  
Immediately she had hurried to change and make her way to the hanger. But she had been too late. Now they were gone.  
  
Meia hated piloting the Vanguards and more than that she was afraid of it. After a time the tight confines of the cockpit and the limited visibility played over her mind like nails over a blackboard. But none of that mattered. She was the leader of the Dread squadron. Jura, Barnette and Dita were her responsibility and as long as they flew with them, so were the two men. She would not let her fears get in the way of her duty. With this in her mind she looked at the second drop ship and then at the plain gunmetal grey Vanguard she had chosen to use.  
  
…………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
Back on the planet the pilots came in for their final approach. Tam and Barnette made a textbook landing. Disabling their chutes while still several meters in the air and using the Vanguards thrusters to bring themselves down easily to the earth. Jura's and Dita's were very nearly the same, but they picked bad spots for their landing sites. As they came to the ground the sand beneath them gave way, causing their Vanguards to slip to the ground. Surprisingly, Hibiki for all his experience was the worst of them. He completely forgot to disable his chute or to use his thrusters. As a result he came crashing to the ground in a spray of sand.  
  
Fortunately no damage was sustained and the pilots soon had their machines up and moving about to inspect the landing site. The female pilots were plainly not impressed.  
  
"There's nothing here." Complained Jura.  
  
"Looks like there's nothing Meia should worry about." Commented Barnette.  
  
"Aww there's only sand?" asked Dita forlornly.  
  
The women began to split up to search the area.  
  
"Wait! Don't go off on your own." Yelled Hibiki. But even as he called out his Vanguard began to teeter precariously and appeared about to fall.  
  
"Hibiki! Stance!" yelled Tam.  
  
Responding automatically to the training command Hibiki felt himself automatically seeking his balance. As he did so the Vanguard also seemed to find its balance and finally stood straight.  
  
In his cockpit Hibiki breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Tam."  
  
"No problem little brother. Concentrate on keeping your balance, just like in training."  
  
"But how does keeping my balance affect my partner's ability to walk?"  
  
"You don't know?" asked Tam sounding surprised. "The Vanguards are designed to use the pilot's sense of balance to regulate their own. If you feel off balance so will the Vanguard. Didn't you encounter that in training?"  
  
"Well actually I never did any of the ground training." Said Hibiki sheepishly  
  
There was a pause, and then Tam's voice came back over the comm. line. This time with a distinct note of seriousness. "Little brother this isn't your first time using a Vanguard on land is it?"  
  
"Um, yeah."  
  
"Hellfire." Muttered Tam. "Ok look, just focus on keeping your balance and try to move naturally. Vanguards are designed to mimic human movement and as long as you don't try anything fancy you should be ok. Remember balance isn't everything but.."  
  
"But it makes everything else easier." Said Hibiki as he finished one of Tams many quotes from their training sessions.  
  
Tams voce came over the comm. rueful. "So you have learned something."  
  
"I've had to." Retorted Hibiki. "Whenever I can't remember you hit me with that damn stick."  
  
"Well it's obviously working. And if you think that's bad I should tell you what grandfather used to use on me. Now there was a man who believed in providing incentive."  
  
Tam winced for a moment at the very painful memories of the old mans incentives. Then he moved his Vanguard forward to follow the others.  
………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Half an hour later the five were still moving their Vanguards through the sand filled streets.  
"I'm tired of this. How much longer do we have to stay down here?" complained Jura.  
  
The sub commander asked us to make a thorough search of the area and find any useful equipment." Replied Tam. "Since the sands seem to screw up the passive and long range scans we have to get in close with the active scans and go building to building."  
  
"But have you seen the size of this place. It could take us days to search through all these ruins." Jura sounded horrified at the prospect.  
  
In his cockpit Tam shrugged. "If that's what it takes."  
  
"Arrrrgh. There has to be an easier way to do this." Jura's complaints were getting louder and Hibiki for one decided to do something about it.  
  
Activating his thrusters he sent his Vanguard soaring up into the sky. Soon it had risen over the tops of the tallest buildings in that area.  
  
"Hibiki get back down here! What are you doing?" yelled Tam.  
  
"Don't worry Tam I can cover much more area if I scan from up here. We'll get this done much quicker and we won't have to listen to so many complaints from. Arrrgggghhh." Hibachi's next sentence was drowned out by the cry of pain that flowed out of his lips.  
  
As he rose up Hibiki had tripped off a concealed sensor system. Upon detecting the movement the sensor registered the anomaly and triggered the second stage of its programming. From shielded, locations around the ruined city bean projectors suddenly came on line. A latticework of red energy beams started to flicker into existence. Forming a cage like dome over the city.  
  
Hibiki's Vanguard had been right in the path of one of those beams when it activated. Instantly pain coursed through his body as part of the beams energy was conducted through the Vanguards metal skin and into him. The beam also stalled the Vanguards thrusters sending it crashing back down to the ground in a shower of sand.  
  
The others hurried to set their Vanguards in motion to the place where he had fallen. Tam started to move his Vanguard but stopped when a sudden pain crashed through his head. He stopped and breathed deeply. The pain had receded but their was still a strange roaring in his ears. Like a swarm of bees. Or the roar of a sandstorm.  
……………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Back on board the Nirvana Duero jerked upright at his borrowed console on the bridge.  
"The pulse rates of the away team have started to increase dramatically. Something's happening to them."  
  
"Report!" Ordered B.C. to the bridge crew.  
  
"A defence screen has activated on the planets surface."  
  
"It appears that the landing team are trapped under the screen."  
  
B.C. looked up at the main monitor worriedly. "Landing team respond!"  
  
Images of the three female pilots slowly appeared. They were hazy with interference.  
  
"What is this?" Cried out Jura.  
  
"We're completely trapped." Reported Barnette.  
  
"Mr Alien will die!" cried out Dita.  
  
"Calm down." Ordered B.C. "What kind of trap is it?"  
  
"The sand is attacking!" yelled out Dita in a scared voice.  
  
B.C. was a hardened commander who had led the pirates through many situations. But Dita's words left her feeling confused and uncertain. 'The sand is attacking?' …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
"What's with this sand?" called out Hibiki.  
  
Moments after he had fallen back to the ground a sandstorm had come up, apparently out of nowhere. Strangely the sand seemed to be attracted to the Vanguards. More and more of it began to attach itself and spread out over the surface of the machines, slowly covering them.  
  
In her cockpit Dita glanced around nervously.  
"Waaah! This sand is strange."  
  
"It feels like its alive!" Yelled Jura.  
………………………………………………………………………………………… On the Bridge B.C started at the panicked faces of the pilots.  
  
"Analyse the sand!" She ordered.  
  
"Understood." Responded the bridge crew.  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
High over the city a shinning dot could be seen descending. Meia's Vanguard was finally on approach.  
As she neared the ground Meia called out to the rest of the ground team.  
  
"This is Meia! Where are you everyone? Respond!" …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
On the bridge Duero noticed that an icon displaying Meia's image and vital signs suddenly sprang into existence on his panel.  
The doctor frowned. "She's pushing herself. Will she be able to hold it together in the face of whatever they are up against?" …………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
On the ground things were looking bad for the rest of the team. Hibiki's Vanguard was almost completely covered by the sand. The others were at least half covered or worse. The sand seemed to impair the Vanguards functions, restricting their ability to move.  
  
One by one they began to crash to the ground as the sand shut down their motor systems. Tam's Vanguard was forced to its knees by the sand. Desperately he tried to force the Vanguard to move, using every motion and technique he had trained in. But it did no good. The Vanguard was frozen. Tam collapsed back in his seat and then slammed his head against the headrest in anger. After all of this. To have come all this way, to have survived so many battles. He was going to be killed by a bunch of sand. It was so goddamn unfair!  
  
Desperately he tried to remember a way to deal with the sand but nothing came to mind. In the empire energy shields would have been used to create a barrier against any environmental hazards like the sand. But that did him no good, the vanguards had no shields. The only thing he could think of was the faceplates on hard suits. These were equipped with electrostatic generators. If the faceplate was covered by dust liquid or any other opaque substance a static charge could be used to clear it away.  
For a minute he though that might provide an answer, but the had no idea how to rig the Vanguards systems to generate a static charge. He didn't even know if it was possible. And that meant he was going to die here. Far from home and with his questions unanswered. In rage and frustration he slammed his fist against the control panel. And gasped.  
  
Suddenly in the back of his mind something clicked. Fuelled by his raging emotions and driven by necessity his mind unfolded. Opening itself in a way that was at once completely alien and utterly familiar. Suddenly he felt his mind accessing the vanguards systems. Flowing through the data streams. Suddenly he was part of the Vanguard, and it was part of him. And it was the easiest thing in the world to take his imagined solution, correct the errors that his only human mind had not even thought of, and apply that solution to the reality that was the machine.  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Barnette was desperately trying to rub off the accumulating sand as her Vanguard became more and more sluggish, when suddenly she looked up in shock.  
  
A weird corona of blue and while lights was flickering across the surface of Tam's Vanguard. Suddenly the lights increased in intensity until in a blaze of white and blue they flared over the surface of the Vanguard. Blowing away the accumulated sand and sending it whirling away. The sand picked up in intensity and tried to reattach itself. But even when it gained a foothold every few seconds a weaker version of the corona played across the surface of the Vanguard. Completely removing the sand.  
  
Barnette and the other stared in shock.  
"Wha.. What."  
  
"How did you do that!" demanded Jura.  
  
"Cool. Mr Tam please does that to me."  
  
"Quiet everyone!" Tam's voice broke over the comm. channel. "I'm sending you a program over your comm. nets. Once you get it activate the power management function on your vanguards and run the program."  
  
"What does it do?" Asked Barnette suspiciously  
  
"It'll generate a static shield on your Vanguards. That should clear them of the sand and stop it from taking hold."  
  
"When did you have time to come up with this?" Demanded Barnette.  
  
"I'll tell you later." Replied Tam. "Now unless you want to remain a giant sand sculpture for the rest of your life?"  
  
Barnette grimaced. She hated trusting the man but it appeared that they had no choice. Quickly she and the others, including Hibiki uploaded the and ran the program they had received from Tam.  
For a moment nothing happened. Then there was a sudden surge through the power systems of the Vanguards as the shield kicked in. As soon as it activated they found the controls responding normally. They were able to get their Vanguards up and moving. The sand continued to flow around them, trying to attach itself. But the static shield just pushed it away whenever it started to accumulate. For a moment the group sighed in relief. Then the sand changed tactics.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Meia did not come down for an easy landing. Unused to handling the Vanguard she missed the landing cue and came down hard. The crash temporarily shorted out her systems leaving her alone in a dark cockpit lit only by the red emergency lights.  
Almost immediately the feeling started. Her pulse began to quicken and she started to feel physically ill.  
  
Suddenly Duero's voice came over the comms. "Meia do you copy? Open your FOV. Try to see as far as possible. Meia do you copy?"  
  
Inside the cockpit Meia was breathing deeply. Struggling to keep herself under control, she reached out with a trembling hand to touch the view screen controls.  
The view screen snapped to life, giving her a view of the barren landscape dotted with bits and pieces of wreckage. Almost immediately her breathing began to ease and her pulse began to settle. But then something else appeared which sent her pulse soaring again.  
  
A patch of sand in front of her suddenly bulged and writhed. Slowly it formed itself into the vague shape of a Vanguard, like something a child would build out of mud. The figure had its arms held out towards her graspingly. Before Meia could adjust to this the figure suddenly flew apart. The sand that made it up suddenly disintegrated, only to fly at her Vanguard like a swarm of angry bees. Meia only had a moment to scream before the sand engulfed her entirely.  
……………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
On the bridge B.C. had been reviewing the positions of the Vanguard team on a map when suddenly the icon representing Meia winked out. "Meia unit disappearing from the radar." Announced one of the bridge crew.  
  
"What!" cried out B.C. in shock. "Jura, Barnette, do you copy? Meia is lost. Search for her"  
  
"Understood" Reported Jura and Barnette, but they had barely finished speaking when their images suddenly disappeared into static. Over the come line B.C. could hear Dita scream.  
  
"Everyone! What's wrong?" she called out.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
The pilots had only barely regained control of their machines when the sand sprang its next surprise. Suddenly before the pilots eyes piles of sand began to rise up. Forming themselves into Vanguard shaped figures.  
  
Suddenly one of the figures moved forward its arm raised and sent a punch flying at the head of Jura's Vanguard. Jura managed to block the blow but the figure countered and moved forward to grapple with her.  
Other figures moved forward to engage the other pilots. Soon the women were crying out for help.  
  
"Somebody help." Yelled Jura  
  
"This thing."  
  
"No No. Don't come!" ………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Back on the bridge B.C cried out in exasperation.  
"What the hell is happening?"  
  
"Analysis complete." Reported one of the bridge crew. A dark haired girl in Indian style robes. "We are picking up signals from this device." She said, bringing up the identified object on the main screen.  
"It appears to be controlling the sand."  
  
"As I thought." Said Magno from her chair. "This is a trap they left for us."  
  
"Inform the ground team." Ordered B.C. "Tell them to knock out that machine."  
  
"We can't." reported another bridge crewwoman. "Our transmissions to the planet are now being blocked. There's no way to inform the ground team. They are on their own." …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
On the ground things were looking bad. The figures appeared to be slower then the Vanguards, but there were a lot of them. And they were vicious.  
Added to this was the fact that the women were used to fighting at long range in Dreads and had little to no hand to hand combat experience. The situation did not look good.  
  
Hibiki finally managed to break away from a sand figure that had been trying to prevent his Vanguard from rising. As he rose to his feet he spun around bringing his Vanguards arm around in a chop that passed right through the body of a sand figure forcing it to break apart. He barely had time to turn around before he was attacked by another one. Hibiki threw a punch, but the figure blocked and moved in to grapple. "What" yelled the boy in surprise. "This one knows how to fight?"  
  
Meanwhile nearly one of the sand figures had Dita's Vanguard on its knees. One of its arms gripped her Vanguards head as if trying to crush it. Suddenly Dita noticed something on her computer display. Shocked she cried out.  
"The sand is copying the Vanguards systems. Its like it's trying to suck the life out of it." Suddenly her Vanguard shook as the figure started pounding on it.  
"Someone help me please." She cried out desperately.  
  
Suddenly the pounding stopped. Surprised she looked up. A black and silver Vanguard stood before hers. In its hands was a massive sword blade, easily as long as the Vanguard was tall. Tam shifted his sword to one hand and used the other to help pull Dita to her feet.  
  
"Thank you Mr Tam."  
  
"You're welcome Dita. Now go and stand with Jura. Try and cover each other."  
  
"What about Barnette."  
  
"She's gone looking for Meia. We have to wait here until she gets back with her."  
  
"But what about the sand aliens?"  
  
In his cockpit Tam smiled. "Don't worry lass, Hibiki and I will take care of them. Now go."  
  
Tam waited until Dita had moved off to join the other two female pilots. The he turned to see how Hibiki was doing. The lad was holding his own fairly well against three of the sand figures. His moves were still rough and unpolished, but his Vanguard was moving gracefully and quickly. Dodging around the clumsy blows of the sand figures while he darted in with sweeping chops and kicks that disintegrated them. But that was part of the problem.  
  
"Hibiki stop messing around. This isn't a game!"  
  
"What the hell do you mean?" Yelled Hibiki sounding annoyed.  
  
"I mean you're only using your legs and fists. You have a sword so use it."  
  
"Ohh." Instantly Hibiki reached back and drew one of the swords from their sheaths on the Vanguards back. With the additional reach of the blade he soon made short work of the remaining figures.  
  
Once he was done he turned his Vanguard to see Tams walking towards him.  
"Well what do you think Tam? Not bad huh?"  
  
"Not bad little brother." Tam admitted. "But can you keep it up?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
In answer Tam raised his Vanguards free hand to point behind Hibiki. Hibiki spun around and gasped in shock.  
Dozens more sand figures were making their was towards them. Even as he watched he saw more form and join their ranks.  
"I mean little brother that the funs just started. Looks like there are many more that want to join the dance.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Meanwhile Barnette's Purple Vanguard had been searching for Meia.  
  
She finally found the Vanguard by now almost completely covered in sand. Desperately she tried to raise Meia on the comm. channel to transmit the shield program Tam had come up with but there was no response. Desperate Barnette brought her Vanguard in close and started to scrape off the sand with its hands.  
  
She had barely started when Meia's Vanguard suddenly sat up and punched hers in the head, leaving it sprawled on the sand. The sand covered Vanguard then ignited its thrusters and shot up into the air, reaching out to touch one of the red bands that formed the defence screen. This done the Vanguard started to drop back to the ground. But almost instantly alarms started to scream all over the ruined city. …………………………………………………………………………………………  
  
On the bridge a new window opened on the main view screen as the scanners detected a new threat.  
  
"It appears that the defence systems self destruct have been activated." Reported one of the bridge crew. "900 seconds till explosion."  
  
"This is bad" muttered Magno.  
  
"Keep trying to raise the landing team." Ordered B.C. "Tell them to return to the ship immediately!" I only prey it wont be too late.  
……………………………………………………………………………………… Back on the ground Tam and Hibiki faced the growing number of sand figures. They had found a good position where the figures could only approached them three or four at a time, with buildings that prevented them from getting at Jura and Dita. The two men had been fighting well together. Their swords moving to keep each other covered and to attack their enemies in well timed, coordinated strikes. Despite that they were being slowly pushed back by the sheer weight of numbers their enemies could bring to bear.  
  
"Tam we gotta do something!" yelled Hibiki. "At this rate we're not going to hold them for long!"  
  
"I know." Yelled Tam as be ducked under a punch before skewering a figure with his blade. "This things are adapting their tactics to combat us. We have to change ours to force them to adapt again."  
  
"Any idea?" Hibiki yelled as he struck out with a horizontal slash, cutting through two of the figures. But almost instantly there were two more to replace them.  
  
"Only one." Commented Tam. "When I give the word drop back with Jura and Dita."  
  
"What! What are you going to do?"  
  
"We're on the defensive too much. Only way to put them off balance is to change that. I'm going to attack."  
  
"That's crazy. You're barely holding your own now. How do you expect to attack?"  
  
Tam laughed. The sound was harsh and slightly disturbing.  
"I've shown you some of the dance little brother, but not all of it. Now time to show you how a master dances. Now get back there."  
  
Reluctantly Hibiki moved his Vanguard back to stand with Jura and Dita. Leaving Tam alone. The Sand figures hesitated for a moment as if uncertain, then surged forward. Tam stood still waiting to meet them. Then as soon as they stepped within range of his sword he moved. The Vanguard gripped the huge sword in two hands as it brought it around in a massive sweep. The sweep passed through three figures forcing them to break apart. The others moved in closer but as the first sweep ended Tam was already in position to start another. He had entered the dance.  
  
From where they stood Hibiki and the women could only gasp. Anyone who thought that the Vanguards were clumsy awkward things had never seen Tam pilot one. He danced, that was the only way to describe it. Every step, every sweep of the sword was perfectly timed, perfectly balanced. Each step led to another and that to the next. The massive machine moved with a grace and power that made it seem alive. The women could only stare in shock, and Hibiki for the first time realised just how much their was to learn, how much Tam had to teach him. He made it look easy. Flowing around the sand figures the way water flows through a stream. Dodging their clumsy attacks almost as if he knew where they were going to be before they happened. And so it went on for minutes on end. The it ended abruptly.  
  
Suddenly Tam's Vanguard crashed to the ground as the sand beneath one leg gave way. Instantly the figures piled on top of him one after another until his Vanguard was buried under a mountain of sand. Tam's static shield struggled to keep of the sand. But the Vanguard was buried too deep. The shield no longer had the power to clear the sand away. Tam sucked his lip and swore. He had cut his lip on his teeth in the crash and now his teeth were stained with his own blood. He knew what the sand was trying to do. The effort of maintaining the shield was rapidly draining his power reserves. Soon they would be dry and he would be helpless. Then the sand would have its victory.  
  
Hibiki saw Tam go down and cried out in shock. He saw the other figures pile on top of Tam's Vanguard, covering the machine in sand. He started to move forward to help him but other sand figures appeared blocking his way. Hibiki tried to slice a path through them, but no sooner did he cut one then another appeared. Yet they made no move to attack him. Only to prevent him getting to his friend. Hibiki tried again and again. But he could make no headway against the wall of figures. There was no way to help his friend.  
  
Hibiki screamed in frustration, and then he stopped as he noticed another figure moving to attack Jura and Dita from behind. Instantly he drew one of his blades and prepared to throw it across the distance, but a voice stopped him.  
  
"Wait" Called Barnette. "That's Meia, she's been swallowed by the sand and being controlled."  
  
"What?" yelled Hibiki. Then turning he charged at Meia's Vanguard. "What are you doing daydreaming? Get rid of that shit now!" His Vanguard slammed into Meia's knocking it to the ground on its back. Hibiki gave it no chance to get back up. He straddled the Vanguard and started rubbing off the sand with his machines hands.  
  
With some of the sand removed the comms were partly restored and Meia's voice could be faintly heard. "Go away. Leave me alone."  
  
"Stop saying shit like that." Yelled Hibiki. "I've already lost one person today. I'll be damned if I lose another. Even an annoying woman like you."  
  
"We lost someone?" asked Barnette in alarm. "Who? Jura!" the last was said in a tone of desperation.  
  
"I'm fine Barnette but we lost Tam. He got buried underneath the sand and there's no way to get him out."  
  
Barnette turned to where Jura was pointing just in time to see the sand erupt upwards.  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
Under the sand in the slowly darkening cockpit, Tam knew he had to do something soon. The effort of maintaining the shield had draining the Vanguards on board power. If he didn't act soon then he would never be able to. But still he hesitated because the only idea he could come up with was to use the boost. He remembered what it had felt like when he had used it before. The feeling of liquid lightening flowing through his veins. It was the most intense thing he had ever experienced. The feeling of power. The feeling of invincibility. And therein lay the problem. Because the boost did not make you invincible. Oh it helped. With it you were stronger, faster than any normal human could be. Small wounds healed before your eyes and everything seemed to go into slow motion giving you an eternity to consider each move you made. But for all that, he knew he was still largely human and that all the power that the boost used up had to come from somewhere and that somewhere was him. Every time he used the boost he was killing himself slowly. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. He didn't want to use the boost unless absolutely necessary. But then again if he didn't use it now he would die. That was a certainty.  
  
The other reason was that even with the boost he might not be able to escape. The boost enhanced his own strength and reflexes. It should do nothing for the vanguard. But maybe the extra edge would be enough. Even if it was not he had to try.  
Why, because he refused to give up. eE refused to give in. He owed these people a duty and a debt and he could not rest until both were fulfilled. And so his mind decided Tam closed his eyes and subvocalised the code word. "BOOST."  
  
Blood thundered through his head and his heart raced. The buried subliminals kicked in. Adrenalin, endorphins and other more potent serums flooded his system from the genengineered glands. His muscles swelled and his senses blossomed. And at the same time for the second time that day something in his mind clicked. A door opened and a passage was shown. A road familiar but not often travelled opened to him. And with the new awareness that was his, he instinctively reached out to take the power that was offered. Sudden energy flooded into him. Into, through and out into his Vanguard. Batteries nearly dead were suddenly raised to full life, power flooded through the Vanguards systems and small but significant changes were made to the machines structure. But more that that Tam's mind opened wide as it never had before. Old memories whispered in his mind as he reached out to inspect his surroundings. Suddenly he was aware of it all. Of the sand, which in reality was made up of billions of tiny machines, all linked to a central controller. Of the defence screen, how it had once been built to defend this place, but was now linked to the controller too. And he became aware of the bomb which was running through the final third of its countdown and which could not be stopped now that it had started. And so he knew that he had work to do.  
Tamorasp surged upward and as he did the familiar but unknown battle cry burst from his lips. "SHANDRAKOR!" ……………………………………………………………………………………  
  
On the bridge of the Nirvana the mood was tense. There were now less than 5 minutes until the bomb would go off eliminating the ruins and the ground team with it.  
  
Suddenly a comm. channel chimed.  
  
"Captain its Parfait, I need to speak with you."  
  
"Parfait we're in a situation right now." replied Magno  
  
"But captain this may be important too. It's about the Plexis."  
  
Suddenly concerned Magno turned her attention to the viewscreen showing the chief engineers face. "What about the Plexis?"  
  
"It's acting weird again."  
  
…………………………………………………………………………………….  
On the ground the others could only stare in stock at the latest development. With a sudden explosion of energy Tam's Vanguard burst from the heap of sand that had buried it. His battle cry thundered over the comm. channel. "SHANDRAKOR"  
  
The sand swirled around the Black and Silver machine trying to envelop it again. But Waves of lightening cracked across the Vanguards surface like a much more powerful version of the static shield and the sand simply slid off. Once again the sand changed tactics. Out of the sand a mass of Vanguard figures formed. But these were different from the earlier ones. The earlier one had looked like a child's crude copy made out of mud. These ones were distinct. Perfect replicas save for the colour. In their hands they carried weapons. Long swords, maces and axes and they moved as if they knew how to use them. They should have saved themselves the effort.  
  
In a single motion the black and silver Vanguard raised its hand. Drew its sword and attacked. When he danced Tam had appeared deadly. Now he was death itself. The Vanguard moved to fast to see. To fast to follow. Its movements were a blur and soon the air around it was filled with flying sand further obscuring their vision.  
  
From their Vantage position, Hibiki, Jura, Barnette and Dita tried to follow Tam's progress with awe. They had all head the story about his fight with the machines. Intellectually they had all known what he must be capable of. But being aware of that and seeing it in action were two very different things.  
  
Very soon it was over and the black and silver Vanguard stood only meters away from the group.  
  
"Tam!" Hibiki yelled as he moved his Vanguard forward. "You're all right. How did you…"  
  
"No time little brother. We have to act fast." Tam cut across Hibiki's questions.  
"A self destruct has been set, we have to disable the defence screen and get out of here before this whole place blows sky high."  
  
"What? But.." said Hibiki confused.  
  
"How do you know this?" demanded Barnette ever suspicious.  
  
"No time!" yelled Tam. "Hibiki I'm sending you the coordinates of the controller. It's what's controlling the sand and the defence screen. Destroy it and we should be able to get out of here."  
  
Hibiki gasped in shock as target data suddenly appeared on his control panel.  
  
"Get going little brother. I'll keep these ones busy until you return."  
  
Hibiki looked up. A formation of the new sand figures were moving towards them. Already there were at least 30 and more were coming all the time.  
  
"Go." Yelled Tam.  
  
Hibiki nodded, then igniting his thrusters he headed for the site Tam had pinpointed.  
  
Meanwhile Tam turned to face the oncoming sand figures. There were a lot of them and with the latest upgrade they were much more formidable than before. But then again so was he. So once again he lifted his sword high and charged to meet them, his voice raised in the unknown battle cry. "SHANDRAKOR".  
  
Hibiki flew low over the skyline dodging between the beams of the defence screen. The building that housed the computer was close. Suddenly he could see it just ahead of him. A tall slender tower that stood at an odd angle. And at the top of the tower Hibiki could see the control computer, and it could see him. Gun emplacements suddenly sprang to life pouring laser and cannon fire at him. Hibiki dived straight through the middle his sight fixed on the machine at the centre. He passed through the fire unscathed, moving too fast for the guns to track. Then as he passed he drew on of his swords and brought it round in a sideways strike before shooting by. Behind him the control computer sparked and cracked before exploding into a thousand pieces.  
  
Tam was on the verge of being surrounded by the Sand figures when suddenly they all fell apart. Falling down into the sand heaps they had come from.  
Almost instantly a concerned voice came over the comm. channel.  
  
"Ground team this is the Nirvana. If you can hear me get out of there! You have only one minute until the self destruct blows." Came B.C.'s frantic voice.  
"One minute!" the others yelled in shock before frantically igniting their jets and boosting for orbit at top speed. Tam was about to follow suite when he saw something that stopped him. Meia's Vanguard lay where Hibiki had knocked it. The sand that had controlled it had largely fallen away but the Vanguard gave no sign of rising.  
  
"Meia" he yelled, moving his Vanguard in close to check for damage.  
  
"I never thought I would ever live to be indebted to a man." Came Meia's quiet voice.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about? Get yourself up! We have to get out of here!"  
  
"Why do you care? Just leave me here."  
  
"Why do I care?" Tam yelled in shock. "I don't know how you do things here but where I come from we never leave our people behind while there's the slightest chance they may be alive. Now if you don't want to die, grab my hand."  
  
So saying Tam caused his Vanguard to reach out with one of its arms.  
  
In her cockpit Meia stared at the image of the Vanguard and the man in front of her. A dozen conflicting emotions and thoughts ran through her mind. But above all these was one simple almost basic thought. 'I don't want to die.'  
  
Slowly almost reluctantly her Vanguard reached up and grabbed the offered hand.  
………………………………………………………………………………………….  
  
On the bridge of the Nirvana the counter representing the bomb suddenly reached zero.  
  
Instantly the scanners showed a series of explosions taking place over the planet. Destroying not just the ruins that the ground team had visited but all the other sites as well.  
  
On the bridge the mood was sombre. There had been no contact with the ground team since communications were cut off. They had no idea if their communications had gotten through. Or if there was anyone alive to listen.  
The force of the explosion had overloaded the scanners. It would be a few moments before they would be back on line and they could determine if anyone survived.  
  
Duero was the first to see it. Suddenly the monitors for the vital signs of the pilots sprang back to life. Showing all six to be alive and healthy.  
  
The next minute 6 dots appeared on the short range scanners, showing the Vanguards returning to the Nirvana.  
  
"All Vanguard units safe." reported Ezera.  
  
All around the bridge people sighed with relief. With one exception.  
  
"Um Subcommander, we are receiving a substantial upload of data from the Vanguards."  
  
"Well?" asked B.C. "What are you waiting for, read it."  
  
With obvious reluctance she began to do so. "This times harvest items: Red blood cells, white blood cells, plateket, lymph, and other blood substances. Situation all good. Data ends here."  
  
As the operator was speaking the eyes of everyone on the bridge had turned to stare at her in shock. As soon as the operator had finished reading B.C whirled around to face Magno's chair.  
  
"Boss, do you realise what this .." but the older woman cut her off.  
  
"The enemy's objective was literally to harvest the blood from the people that were here. They think of us as nothing more that vegetables. We found out only one thing from this incident. We are dealing with a terrible enemy." …………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
In the Vanguard hanger the techs were busily returning the Vanguards to their berths. Utterly exhausted after their experience on the planet, the female pilots were sitting around the storage area trying to recover.  
  
One pilot in particular was dwelling deeply about what had occurred on the planet.  
Meia sat on the floor with her back against a large crate. A look of suppressed fury could be seen in her eyes.  
"How humiliating." She thought to herself. "To be saved by a man. And of all the men on the ship it had to be him!"  
  
Angrily she turned to look for the man. But she was surprised when she could not see him. The Black and Silver Vanguard that he had piloted was now back in its storage berth, but Tam was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Suddenly she noticed Hibiki move up to the gantry before the Black and Silver Vanguards cockpit. Meia could hear him yelling something. But could not make out the words. Then suddenly the cockpit opened. Tam fell out of the cockpit, right into Hibiki. For a moment it looked like the youth would go down under the weight, but then he managed to brace himself and hold the older man up.  
  
Meia got to her feet in concern. Tam's whole body appeared to be shaking. He was trying to stand on his feet, but he didn't appear able to support his own weight. Hibiki's assistance was the only thing holding him up. Suddenly he turned to the side and retched. Meia saw a spray of vomit travel over the gantry rail and into a bucket below. Hibiki started calling out loudly and urgently. Then he started pulling Tam away. Together they descended the gantry stairs shakily and started moving out of the hangar. Hibiki almost having to both drag and hold up the older man at the same time.  
  
Meanwhile the women were staring after them stunned. They were so tired and shocked that they didn't even think to yell out or to offer to assist.  
  
Meia stared after Hibiki and Tam. Thoughts flashing through her mind. What was wrong with him? "Why did he seem so ill now when he had been so strong before?" "And why", another part of herself wondered, "did I feel so concerned when I saw him?" End of Chapter 5:  
  
………………………………………………………………………………………..  
  
Whew. Another long chapter.  
  
I apologise that this one took so long, but work has been really busy lately and I also just bought my first house and had to deal with all the million and one details that that involves.  
  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did or even if you didn't please read and review.  
  
I am open to any comments and constructive criticism and am happy to consider any suggestions of scenes people would like to see in the story.  
  
But if you don't let me know then how can I make the story better?  
  
Until next time, hopefully soon.  
  
DarkBlade 


	8. VanStalker Chapter 6: Battles in the Voi...

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.  
Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.  
DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.

Well its finally ready. I'm sorry it took so long but many events conspired to keep me from writing.  
Buying a house, moving in, work.  
Visiting the States, coming home, more work.

But enough already I know proudly present

Vanstalker Chapter 5: Battles in the Void. Battles in the mind

Magno Vivian made her way slowly down the corridors of the Nirvana towards the Sickbay. The steady tap, tap of her cane rang out through the silence of the corridors.  
It was late in the 3rd watch. What could be considered "night" time on the Nirvana. Most of the crew, other than those on watch, were asleep. Magno normally would have been at this time too. But there was a meeting that she felt needed to take place. One which she did not want the rest of the crew around to see, if she could avoid it.

The one she sought was likely to be asleep at this time and after what he had gone through on the planet below Magno regretted the need to wake him. But it was necessary. 'Well' she thought 'at least this should give her an opportunity to surprise him.

Magno walked into the sickbay. The doors quietly opening and closing behind her. She stared at the vacant cots looking for the figure she sought. Finally she headed for a cot in the corner, surrounded by curtains. Reaching up a hand she pulled back the curtains, and jerked back in surprise.

Tamorsap knelt at the foot of the cot. He was fully dressed and just finishing tying the final pair of laces on his boots. When he heard Magno he jerked up in surprise, looking as guilty as a caught burglar. But then his face relaxed slightly.

"Captain. For a minute I thought you were Duero."

"Indeed. And what do you think our good Doctor would have said if he had found you obviously about to sneak out of the sickbay without his permission?"

Tamorasp grinned as he stood up. "He probably would have made good on his threat to tie me to the bed to make sure I got some rest."

Magno's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Tie you down. I thought he'd at least try to sedate you first."

"He already tried that."

Tam noticed Magno's eyes widen in surprise and decided to elaborate further.  
"I'm pretty sure he slipped some mild sleeping tablets into my food at dinner. That's probably why I only just woke up. It's also why he must have thought that it was safe to leave me here and return to the men's quarters for some rest. I think he needed it. I gave him quite a run around this afternoon, as you may have heard."

Magno nodded. Courtesy of Paiway most of the ship had heard about the incident by now. When Hibiki had half carried, half dragged Tam into the sickbay after the battle on the planet Duero had taken one look at him before ordering the emergency table cleared and hurrying the semi conscious Tam straight to it. Tam has made very little protest when he was placed on the table and subjected to almost every medical test it was capable of performing. However his reaction had been very different when Duero had started contemplating a course of treatment.

The doctor had determined that Tam's sickness and his weakened state was a direct result of his use of the boost. Or more specifically a result of him using the boost before his body had been able to fully recover from his last use. As a result his body was consuming itself even faster than the last time, as damage that had not had time to fully heal was compounded by the boost's ravenous hunger for energy.

Duero had stated out loud that he thought that the organs that provided the boost might be dangerous and had talked about looking at ways to removing them.

To say this out loud had been a mistake.

The moment the words were out of Duero's mouth Tam had violently jerked upright. He had pulled and strained against his bonds, succeeding in half freeing himself, all the while screaming abuse at Duero for what he meant to do.

It had taken the combined strength of Duero, Paiway, Hibiki and two hastily called security guards to restrain him. Even then they had only been able to do so after Duero had sworn to Tam on his physician's oath that he would make no attempt to remove the boost organs without Tams consent.

After that Tam had finally settled down and allowed himself to be sedated. Tam had lain under sedation for the next day and a half while Duero monitored his progress. But he had found nothing. Tam's physical wounds had already healed by the end of the first night, but his body was still weak and appeared dangerously exhausted. But Duero could do nothing about that other than order his patient to rest and recover his strength.

'An order' thought Magno. 'That he is apparently already disobeying."

Tam smiled at her ruefully. "Well I was feeling restless. I've always hated spending long periods in bed. It makes me feel useless. I thought I would just take a quick walk around the corridors to stretch my legs."

"And I suppose you intend to return to your bed after you've finished with your little walk?" asked Magno knowingly.

Tam looked embarrassed. "Well I thought that if it turns out that I'm well enough to walk around I may as well return to my quarters. After all I don't want to be needlessly filling up the sickbay."

"The sickbay is hardly full. And for you to use it is hardly needless." Said Magno grimly. "When Duero asked me to talk to you Tam I thought that he was being overly cautious, but now I think it may be necessary."

"What may be necessary." Asked Tam, now concerned.

Magno sighed heavily. "Duero asked me to remove you from the Vanguard operations. To restrict you to light duties until you have fully recovered."

"WHAT!" yelled Tam angrily. "He has no right to ask that!"

"He has every right" retorted Magno. "He is the Doctor on this ship. The welfare of the crew are his concern. Particularly when they appear incapable of taking care of themselves."

Tam quietened and looked concerned. "What do you mean?"

"Duero says that the reason that you became so sick after combat was because you used the Boost again."

Tam nodded.

Magno shook her head and continued. "That is the second time that you have used it and the second time that you have nearly died from it."

Tam immediately protested. "But that's not due to the Boost itself. The first time it was due to the wounds I received. The second time the reason I fell ill was because I still hadn't recovered from the last time."

"And yet here you are. Once again hauling yourself out of bed without giving your body the rest it needs. I would expect behaviour like this from an irresponsible child but not from you!"

Tam jerked as if he had been slapped in the face. Then his expression changed. Always before when in here presence he had been polite and impassive. Even when baited by Meia he had not lost that calm. He had lost it now.  
His face was suffused with anger. His lips were pulled back slightly showing his teeth. But his eyes were where it showed the most. They blazed with anger. But at the centre of that anger was a deadly calm. Like a sword in the centre of a furnace.

He took a single step towards here. His entire body radiating threat. Magno involuntarily took a step backwards. She had never been afraid of Tam. At her age there was little in life that scared her anymore. But she could not remember the last time she had seen such a promise of death and violence radiating from another human being, and she felt a tingle of fear run down her spine at the sight of him.

"Maybe" she thought to herself. "This wasn't such a good idea after all."

She was just about to call for security in the certain knowledge that they would arrive too late to do any good. When just as suddenly as the threat had arrived it disappeared.

After that first step Tam stopped himself. Closing his eyes he bent over and took several deep breaths. His body shuddered visibly as he grappled with his emotions. After a few moments he stood up and faced her. Once again his body appeared calm. His eyes did not, but they were also no longer clouded by anger.

"I am sorry captain. You are right it was remiss of me to try to leave my hospital bed when I was not yet fully recovered. I will not attempt to do so again until Duero gives me permission."

Magno blinked rapidly surprised by the sudden change. A moment ago Tam had appeared ready to kill her for a seemingly minor criticism. Now he was back to his normal self.

"What was that about Tam?"

Tam flushed and bowed his head. "I'm sorry captain I lost my temper. I have no excuse and can only ask your forgiveness."

Magno smiled reassuringly. "Since no harm was done my forgiveness is freely given. But your action still worries me Tam. Meia, Barnette and other members of the crew have tried to get a rise out of you and you have barely frowned at them. Now such a small comment almost threw you into a rage. Why? Is it an effect of the Boost?"

Tam moved back and leaned back against the edge of his bed. For a moment he was silent. Then face still downcast he began to speak.  
"No or at least not directly. The boost has made me more tired and irritable than usual and my adrenaline levels are still higher than normal. But that's not what set me off. To tell you the truth I was just thinking about something from my past and your comment set me off."

Magno looked thoughtful. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

Tam started to shake his head in a negative. But then slowly almost reluctantly he stopped and nodded.

Magno moved forward and settled herself comfortably in a nearby seat. Tam sat sitting there for a long moment. Mango was just about to ask what was wrong when he finally started to speak.

"I told you earlier that I was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Navy." He looked up and Magno nodded slightly.  
"What I didn't tell you was why. You see my family has always served the empire as part of its armed forces. For generations beyond count going back before the recorded history of the empire itself we have served. Sometimes our roles have differed. Sometimes we have served as soldiers, sometimes as commanders. Sometimes in the Fleet, other times in the Marines. But always we have had that tradition of service. We are not alone in this. Almost every family on New Nepalla has a similar tradition. And over the generations far too many of us have died from that tradition. New Nepalla is quite an old planet. Despite that it remains fairly sparsely populated. The reason being that far too many of its young men and women die in service before they can return home to raise a family.

"But the.." Magno spoke involuntarily.  
Tam raised his head to look at her. "But then why do we persist in that tradition?" She nodded.

Tam leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "You know I asked my Grandfather that question myself once. He responded with a question of his own.

"Do you know what the difference between a Soldier and a Warrior is Tamorasp?" he asked me.  
"A Warrior fights for his own gain, for his own causes. A Soldier fights for those who cannot fight for themselves. Our people have always had great skill in War. But with that strength come's a responsibility. It is a skill that can always too easily be turned to great evil. To avoid that we pledge that gift to the service of others."

"I remember asking him then why didn't we just stop fighting at all. Why didn't we just ignore that gift? That was one of the few times he was really angry with me. I still remember the look in his eyes when he looked at me and it still chills me.

"Because it is a gift that has been given to us" he said. "And to ignore that gift or not to use it would be a greater crime than to abuse it. Too many people are born into the world helpless with no power to defend themselves. Thanks to your blood and your training that will never be so. But that comes with a price, the responsibility to serve others. Be thankful. Many go through life uncertain of what their path is, of what they are meant to do. You do not have that burden, your life was decided for you."

Tam was silent for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. Then he continued.  
"The last few weeks have been hard for me. At first when I arrived I didn't know anything more than my name. But now that I have some of my memories I almost wish I did not. They just make the world I am in now feel stranger and make me feel out of place. Now I worry that I will never be able to return. Never be able to see the faces of those I remember again. And that worries me to the depths of my heart."

Magno was shocked. She could see the raw emotion on Tam's face. The anguish and the fear. It was a side of him she had never seen before. One she had not known existed. It made her feel better to know that despite all the strange mysteries about their new guest he was at least in one way completely human.

Tam looked at her and smiled slightly. "But the one thing that I have held on to while I have been here is that tradition. That was the real reason that I asked to be allowed to work on the Vanguards. Being able to fight, to take service. It gives me a link to my past. It allows me to think that no matter how far away from home I am I am still fulfilling my duty. If not to the empire than at least to my people and my family. So when you said that I was being irresponsible Captain. Well I kind of took it the wrong way." He smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I did not mean it that way." Replied Magno.

Tam smiled back at her. "I know that captain. I'm sorry that I almost lost control of myself back there. But to answer your question, it's not the boost that has been making me edgy. This was something else. I don't think it was just the effects of the boost that made me sick this time."

Magno nodded. "Yes it's interesting that you should mention that. Parfait has been looking at the Vanguards since they came back from the planet. What she found has intrigued her mightily."

Magno looked over at Tam to see his face had taken on a guarded look. She got up and began to walk over to the spot where he sat as she continued to speak.

"Parfait found that each of the Vanguards that went down there had been altered. In most of them the changes were relatively minor. But minor as those changes were they went far beyond what a simple program should have done. Parfait says that the changes that happened to the Vanguards would have required at least a team of techs working for several hours to install. That was if any of them had understood how to make one of these 'static shields' which none of them did. Parfait was very curious to know how those changes might have happened."

Tam blew out his breath in a long sigh and rubbed his hands over his face. "I assume from that comment that you think that I had something to do with it."

"Didn't you?"

"Yes. Yes I did. But if you want me to tell you what I did or how I did it, then unfortunately you will be disappointed because I have no idea."

"Why don't you try telling me what happened at least."

Tam sighed again but nodded.  
"It was when the sand was attacking us the first time. I remember struggling. Trying to do anything to escape as it sucked the power out of my Vanguard. And I remember the frustration and anger I felt when I realised that there was nothing that I could do. That was when it happened. I felt something click in my mind as if I had triggered something. And suddenly I it was as if I could feel the Vanguard, feel what I needed to do to save myself. And acting completely on instinct that's what I did."

Tam turned to look at Magno. The old woman had a pensive look on her face.  
"From what you are telling me it sounds like you willed those changes to happen and they did."

"That's pretty much it" agreed Tam. "I don't blame you if you have a hard time believing it Captain. I have a hard time believing it and I did it!" He sighed and rubbed his face again.  
"And it would not surprise me if you were worried that I may be a risk to the crew. I worry about it myself."

Magno looked surprised. "You do? Why?"

Tam shook his head helplessly.  
"Because none of this makes any sense. Me being here makes no sense. These things I can do make no sense. I have never heard of a human being able to do things like this. It makes me wonder what I am."

"You are a member of my crew." Said Magno. "You became that the moment you agreed to help us. And you will be that until you decide to leave. 

Tam looked up at her and smiled.  
"Thank you for that Captain." Then his smile turned serious. "But you really shouldn't make promises you don't know if you can keep."

"What do you mean by that?"

Tam waved his hand in the air. "There are still gaps in my memory. But each time they are filled I change a little more. What if I remember something that changes me further? Something that makes me a danger to the crew?"

Magno smiled. "So far Tam you have been more dangerous to our enemies than you have to the crew. Although there are probably some on the ship who would disagree." The last was said with a smile to let him know she was joking. Tam managed to respond with a wan smile of his own.

"Besides," continued Magno. "It's not like you have had any memories that might suggest that you may be an enemy to us is it." The last was said jokingly but Magno smile suddenly turned serious as she saw the troubled look on Tam's face.

"Is it?" She asked again more seriously.

Tam grimaced before responding. "There was one memory I had a while ago. At the time I thought it might indicate that I was working with the enemies that are now attacking us."

He hurriedly clarified as he saw the shocked look on Magno's face. "But I don't think that anymore. The subsequent memories I have seen show me that what I originally thought was wrong."

Magno did not look completely satisfied. "Would you mind telling me of the memory of which you speak?"

Tam sighed deeply. Then he related to her his memory. First the history of the AI's of Shub. The artificial intelligences made by man who had become mankind's greatest enemy. Then later his memory of the massive room filled with strange structures made out of metal and crystal. Shaped into forms and patterns that seemed to make no sense to his mind. Of the blue steel robot that had been his guide, teacher and friend. A robot which he now realised had been nothing more that an avatar, a physical representation of the AI's.

Magno waited until he had finished before questioning what he had said. "I can see how might have thought that this Blue metal robot might me linked to the Harvesters. But why do you think that this is no longer a possibility?"

"Because," replied Tam. "The AI's may once have been mankind's official enemies, but that was a long time ago. In my time they were a trusted friend and ally of the empire. They lived by a creed. "All that lives is holy." The Shub that I know of would sooner destroy themselves than seek to kill other sentients."

Magno look a bit doubtful at this. "That seems like rather a different story from what you were telling me earlier. How did this change come about?"

"It happened just after the great rebellion when…" suddenly Tams voice faded away.

Magno looked up and was shocked to see Tam clutching his head, eyes tightened in concentration.

"Tam what's wrong?"

He looked at her something like panic in his eyes.  
"I can't remember!"

Magno looked confused. "Bit you said yourself your memories still have gaps."

"NO!" yelled Tam. "I mean I cannot remember the name."

"What name?"

"The name of the leader. The leader of the great rebellion. The one for whom the entire rebellion was named. The one who saved the empire. Who brought the AI's to true sentience and ended the war. His name is remembered by all. His exploits are legendary. I know this. But I cannot remember his name or any of the things that he did!" 

"Is that important?"

Tam looked at her strangely. "Yes! I mean I don't know. I mean I think it is. There is something about that name, something important. I feel if I could just remember it then everything else would fall into place. But I cannot remember." The last was said with a moan of anguish.

Magno sighed. This was getting her nowhere. Besides she already had all the answers she had expected to get from this meeting. And a few new questions besides. On that basis she could judge herself content.

"Well don't worry yourself about it Tam. Some of your memories have returned. I am sure that the rest will also return in time."

After a moment Tam stopped clutching his head and nodded in reluctant agreement.

Magno nodded satisfied. "Now I want you to get back to sleep. For the next week you are officially on light duties until you recover."

Tam raised his head to protest but Magno cut him off.

"You cannot fight to the best of your ability if you are still exhausted. If you can rest for a week then I will allow you back into your Vanguard not before. That's an order."

Tam finally nodded reluctantly in acceptance.

"Good night young man." Said Magno as she turned to go.

"Good night Captain." responded Tam before he turned to return to bed.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Elsewhere on the Nirvana one of the techs in the engineering room was watching a monitor with a confused look on her face. For the last few minutes there had been some strange fluctuations in the Plexis. They had been very small, nothing like what had happened when the landing party had been sent down to the planet. But they were unusual nonetheless. She was contemplating calling Parfait when just as soon as the fluctuations started they stopped. Not wanting to wake the chief engineer this late at night the tech decided to ignore it. And soon after, she forgot about it entirely. 

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The rest of the week passed remarkably quickly. Although he was consigned to light duties Tam was able to convince Duero to allow him to work on maintenance for the Vanguards. Hibiki was of course happy to see him again and the two split their time between continuing to work on their respective machines and training in sword fighting.

The Vanguard bay soon became a refuge for the both of them. Hibiki from the attentions of Dita, Tam from the questions of Parfait. The bushy haired engineer had attempted to question Tam at every opportunity as to what had happened down on the planet. His answers that he had no idea had not dissuaded her. Fortunately Parfait's duties as engineer kept her too occupied to question him as much as she would like. And Tam and Hibiki soon learned to grab meals from the register and eat them down in the hanger to avoid unwelcome attention. After his first exposure to women's food Hibiki had taken to it with the enthusiasm that only a true convert could show. As for Tam he was pleased to be eating something other than those disgusting food pellets. He was also pleased that the food was better than the Navy issue ration that was the last food he could remember eating, although he was disappointed that the food seemed to lack spice.

So all in all the week passed very quietly, until it was almost over. ………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meia hurried down the corridor to the conference room. She had been running simulations in the pilot's ready room and had lost track of time. Now she was almost late for the meeting that the Boss had called. This only added to the aggravation that had been building for the last week.

What had happened on the desert planet still haunted her. Firstly that she had let her own weakness overcome her and secondly that she had been saved from that weakness by a man. Thankfully she had been able to avoid him for the last couple of days.

This thought was still foremost in her mid when she entered the conference room and saw who was gathered inside.

Magno as always was seated at the head of the table. Also seated were BC, Gascognue and Parfait. The heads of the various groups that made up the ships crew. Meia representing the Dread pilots should have been the last. But today another was also seated.

Meia jerked to a halt in shock as Tam turned his chair to face her as she entered the door.

At her entrance Magno looked up. "Ahh Meia. Good you're here. Please take a seat so we can get started."

Meia grimaced and took her seat, which unfortunately for her was seated just next to Tam. "What's he doing here." She asked as she seated herself."

"I asked Tam here because of his previous experience with deep space travel. I thought he might be able to offer some advice about the decision we now face. BC?"

The subcommander stood up and nodded. At a motion from her hand the display at the head of the table changed to show a star system. The system was fairly small, with only one large planet and a number of smaller ones. However the system was densely packed with asteroids. And there was something strange about the main planet. It looked like something had bitten a huge chunk out of it.

"As you can see." Said BC. "The main planet of the system is only partially intact. We suspect that at some time in the distant past a massive comet or asteroid collided with the planet, cracking its core. We also assume that this is what caused the asteroid field. That field is now our dilemma. This system sits on the least time course of our return home. The asteroid fields will make our progress slow but with careful manoeuvring we should still be able to clear them within a week. The alternative is to try to circle around the edge of the field and that could take a month or more."

"So that's the situation we're in." Commented Magno as BC finished. "Do we go around or do we go through. Comments?"

Several of the women appeared about to speak but Tam beat them all to it.  
"Go around captain, don't chance it." 

They turned to look at him in surprise. Magno curiously.  
"Any particular reason for that Tam?"

The former Lieutenant pointed to the viewscreen from where he sat. "In the Imperial fleet systems like this were often described as 'Bad lands'. Such places are known haunts for smuggles, pirates and other things that don't want to be found. An asteroid field like that is also the perfect spot for an ambush. The asteroids will force the Nirvana to move slowly. We would be vulnerable to attack."

"The dreads can take care of any threat before it gets to the Nirvana." Responded Meia hotly. Once again she felt her annoyance rising. What he had said made sense, she knew it. But that only served to aggravate her more. 'What is it about this man' she thought 'why does the affect me so.' She still remembered how she had felt when she had seen him collapse after the mission to the desert world. Before she had felt nothing but anger that he a man had saved her. Then when she had seen him injured she had felt concern. A concern that had only faded when she had heard that he was recovering. Not knowing the reason for that concern irritated her. But not as much as the calm way he appeared to respond to all of her outbursts.

"The dreads have shown that they can effectively defend the Nirvana in open space. But fighting within an asteroid field is a different environment. And if we do encounter an enemy and they have experience operating in the fields then your pilots will be at a disadvantage."

Meia was about to retort again but Magno silenced her. "Enough you two. Thank you for your input. Parfait, Gascognue any comments?"

Parfait responded first. "Well if we go through the field we may come across some deposits of metals or fuels that we can stop to mine. Some of our raw materials stockpiles are starting to get low and this might give us an opportunity to stock up."

"Likewise supplies are my main concern Boss." Responded Gascognue her trademark toothpick between her teeth. "The supply situation is still holding up pretty well, but there is a limit to our stores of munitions, not to mention food and amenities. With that in mind I'm in favour of anything that gets us home sooner."

Magno nodded as she absorbed what they had said. For a moment she sat there thinking, running the beads she carried absently through one hand as the others watched. Finally she came to a decision.

"Ok we'll try heading through the field. But Meia. I want you to keep a group of Dreads out there at all times. We need to be constantly on our guard. That's all, I'll see you later."

Taking this as a dismissal, Tam quickly got up and left. Parfait appeared about to chase after him but then stopped to walk with Gascognue. Meia was just about to leave when Magno called out to her.

"Meia."

She stopped and turned. "Yes Boss?"

"I know it's hard to have the men on board. Particularly this one which we know so little about. But don't let that distrust blind you to what he says. Wherever he comes from he has experience that's worth listening to."

"I know that boss. I agree that most of what he says makes sense. Its just that.."

"It's just that?" asked Magno curiously.

"Nothing." Said Meia shaking her head. "It won't interfere with my ability to do my job. And with that she walked out.

Leaving Magno pondering her final words. 'Now what do you suppose she could have meant by that?'

Elsewhere Meia stopped and touched the visor she always wore before jerking her hand away angrily. 'No' she thought. 'I am strong because I rely on myself. I will always rely on myself. I made that decision a long time ago.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

That thought still haunted her later that week as she sat in the cockpit of her Dread.  
For the last three days the Nirvana had been moving through the asteroid field. And so far they had found precisely nothing. No sign of the enemy but also no sign of anything they could use.

That in itself was odd. With a system so thick in asteroids they should have found some ore deposits that were usable. But so far nothing worth the effort of refining. It was almost as if something or someone had already removed all of the viable deposits. But if that was true where were they?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Come on Tam. Let's go get some food!" Hibiki's voice startled Tam as he sat in the cockpit of his Vanguard. Parfaits techs had restored the machine to its pristine state following the battle on the desert world. They had also made some improvements. Mounting a small gattling cannon on the left arm to give the machine some long range fire power. Tam was a little dubious as to how effective it would be. The gun was of a small calibre and only had a single drum mag of ammo. He really didn't feel like carrying more. Visions of a single stray shot from a harvester hitting the spare mags kept flashing through his mind. Still it was nice to have something to shoot back with.

"In a minute little brother I just want to check on something."

"Come on Tam. What are you waiting for? They're serving something called "Peskatore" today and I really want to try it." Called Hibiki as he stuck his head into the cockpit to see what was keeping him.

Looking over Tam's shoulder Hibiki saw that he had linked into the Dread CAC(1) and was monitoring the escort wing currently outside.

"Huh? You're watching the women and that crazy blue haired one at that! Why's this so important?"

Tam sighed. "They're just about to do a shift change little brother As soon as they're done we'll go grab something." As Tam spoke the four dreads started to move back towards the Nirvana on a landing approach. Meia's in the rear.

"Ok but why do you wanna watch the shift change?"

Tam made an expression of annoyance.  
"Its not the shift change itself. It's that during the change there's a gap between the old fighters returning and the new ones launching. That makes it the perfect time for.."

Before Tam could finish the sentence a red light started blinking on the sensor panel.  
Tam looked up sharply.  
"Enemy contact! Get to your partner little brother. Lunch will have to wait." Hibiki rushed to obey as Tam started bringing his Vanguard on line.  
Throughout the Nirvana alarms started to ring out, calling the crew to battle stations and the dread pilots to their ships.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge Magno's chair move through the door from her ready room to its bridge station.

"What have we got?"

BC turned to respond.

"Single enemy contact. Currently moving away from us."

"Hmm. Unlike them to run. They must be up to something. Hold the dreads in close after they launch. This could be a trap."

No sooner had she finished speaking then the viewscreen showed the icon of a single Dread moving to engage the harvester ship.

"What! Who's that."

BC spun around.  
"Meia. Pull back towards the Nirvana. Wait for the other dreads!"

"There's only one of them." Came back Meia's voice. "I can take care of it on my own. It could be a scout. Better if we take care of it before it can report back."

BC continued to call her back, but the Dread leader continued to chase after the fleeing Harvester ship.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the cockpit of her dread Meia leaned forward over her controls. Her Dread was fast. Optimised for speed and manoeuvrability over armour or firepower, and she could wield it with an artist's skill. She was steadily closing in on her target. Suddenly she dodged around a large asteroid and got her first clear look at it. That should have been enough to tell her that something was different.

Rather than the usual cube fighters, this enemy ship looked like a giant X with a large engine extending from the centre. She was temporarily surprised by this but then regained her focus.

'There's only one of them. I can take care of it by myself."

She focused on her targeting computer as the ship came within range. But suddenly just as she locked on, the ship started to accelerate. Afterburners blazing it moved itself out of range. Cursing Meia moved to follow. Grimly trying to reacquire her lock. She was so focused on the task at hand she did not notice the other one until the warning screamed in her ears.

"Meia! There's one behind you. Look out!"

Her head jerking up in shock, Meia looked up just in time to see another of the X ships diving down towards her.

Frantically she jerked her controls and fired her after burners trying to avoid the attack. She did not succeed.

A line of fire from the ship struck her Dread on the left side. Shields failed under a direct hit at point blank range. Meia felt her dread buck like a wounded beast under the impact of the hits. Frantically she tried to bring the dread back under control. Then an explosion went off right by her head and she lost consciousness.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge the reports were hastily called back and forth.

"Dread teams A and B are away. Team C is launching now."

"Register reports a delay with the delivery ship. Ten minutes before its ready."

"Leader's Dread has been hit!"

Magno and BC instantly jerked in shock.

"What!"

"Report status." Yelled BC.

"Dread is intact but no power readings it's been disabled!"

"No communication from the pilot. Vital signs are fluctuating."

"Damn." Said BC. "She won't survive the ten minutes it will take to get the delivery ship out to her."

"Captain!" Tams face suddenly appeared on the bridge view screen.  
"Let us try!"

"Are you sure you can do it?" asked Magno

Tam's image shrugged.

"It works in the simulators, only one way to find out if it will work for real."

Magno nodded. "Ok get out there and bring her back."

Tams image nodded sharply before he cut the connection.

Moments later.

"Both Vanguards have cleared the hanger currently closing on Leader's Dread." …………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tams Vanguard had undergone another significant change while on the planet. In addition to the static shield, it was now equipped with a powerful set of thrusters. It was those thrusters that had allowed Tam to tow Meia and Barnette into orbit in the same way that Hibiki had towed Jura and Dita. So Tams Vanguard was now at least able to move and fight in space. However, that didn't make it any better armoured. Or make it able to keep up with the speeds the Dreads and their opponents were using. 

Tam ducked and weaved his Vanguard in between the asteroids as he moved in on Meia's position. It was turning into a total shit fight out here. There were far more than two of those strange new enemy fighters out there and they were currently flying rings around the Dreads.

All of the pilots had by now had some experience with flying though the asteroids. But it was still dangerous flying and the chances of collision were high. The pilots often had to pull up sharply as they twisted and turned to avoid groups of floating rocks. The enemy on the other hand seemed to fly through the dense field like fish in the sea.

'They have the home ground advantage' thought Tam. 'They know the terrain and they are using it against us.' His thoughts were cut short by a call from Hibiki.

"Come on Tam. Hurry up and lets get the woman back to the ship so we can get back into the fight."

Hibiki's Vanguard was surging ahead. Moving on the least distance path to where Meia's crippled Dread now hung in space.

As he watched Tam could see one of the enemies X fighters moving in.  
"Hibiki three o'clock high. Watch out."

"Huh?" confused Hibiki stopped his Vanguard and turned to stare back at Tam.  
This turned out to be the right thing to do as a line of cannon blasts suddenly lit up the space he had been about to occupy. The X fighter flashed past, a Dread in hot pursuit.  
Tam used the momentary break to move up to Hibiki's Vanguard. Together they started to move off.

"What did you mean about three o'clock? That's not for another three hours?"

In his cockpit Tam rolled his eyes in annoyance. The kid had so much to learn.  
"I'll tell you later little brother. For now let's focus on the task at hand. There she is."

Meia's dread was now directly ahead of them. It spun lazily in space amongst the rocks. Up close Tam could see that the damage was not extensive, but it was serious. The X fighter had hit Meia's dread just over the main engine. She was very lucky. Just a little bit more damage and there wouldn't be a ship left. Cautiously he looked over the cockpit checking for further damage. What he saw wasn't good. The cockpit canopy was cracked. The interior was filled with smoke. Even if she was still alive, she might not survive for long if they didn't get her back soon.

"Ok little brother. Just as we practised."

Moving carefully the two Vanguards took up positions along side the fuselage and gripped the wings in their arms. Hibiki had complained when they had originally practised this manoeuvre in the simulators. Tam had just shrugged and responded that they never knew when they might need it. Well today it was proving its worth.

"Ok little brother. On the count of three. One. Two. THREE!" As one the two vanguards fired their thrusters and began to push. The Dread resisted for a moment. Then it began to move. As it picked up acceleration Tam and Hibiki called out to one another. Angling their thrust to bring them back towards the Nirvana.

Now came the most dangerous part of the operation. Even with two of them together they could not equal the normal acceleration of a Vanguard. Let alone a Dread. With Meia's Dread so much dead weight they were effectively a big slow moving target. Something that it did not take the harvesters long to realise.

"Push down!" Yelled Tam.  
Instantly he and Hibiki angled their thrusters upwards. Spinning Meia's dread up and around. A split second later flashes of tracer fire shot through the spot they had occupied.

"Tam this isn't going to work!" yelled Hibiki.

Tam looked around desperately. "Head for the gap between those two big rocks. That should give us some cover."

Together they angled the Dread through the relatively narrow gap. They were almost through when Hibiki screamed a warning. "Tam look out!"

Tam looked up. An X fighter was diving straight for them. Tam looked around. There was no room to manoeuvre. If they tried they would crush Meia's Dread. But if they stayed put they would be an easy target. Only one thing to do.

In his cockpit Tam pulled a control. Lifting his Vanguards left arm he targeted the X fighter and let loose with a spray of fire from the gattling cannon. The X fighter broke off its attack and swerved. As it swept past them Tam continued to fire. Running a stream of bullets along its fuselage.

"YEAH. Way to go Tam!" crowed Hibiki.

"No" broke in Tam's voice. "There's no reason to celebrate little brother."

"But you hit him." Responded Hibiki confused.

"Yes and it did precisely nothing. The bullets on this gun aren't heavy enough to penetrate whatever kind of armour that things got. That means it knows I'm not a threat and it'll be coming back to finish the job."

True to Tams word the X-Fighter began to circle back. They could see it coming in for another run. Could see its cannons charge up as it prepared to fire. When suddenly it exploded in a massive fireball and a Dread swooped through the space it had just been in.

"Thanks" Tam called out on an open channel.

A tart female voice answered back. "Don't thank me Man, I was just settling a debt. We're even now. Now hurry up and get Meia back to the ship!"

Tam nodded. "Ok Barnette. But once again thanks." "Bridge this is Tam. We are bringing Meia's dread into the lower launch bay. Her cockpit is cracked. Recommend you have a medical crew on hand just in case."

"The doctor is standing by. Just hurry up and get back here."

"Confirmed." Replied Tam.

He and Hibiki succeeded in getting Meia's dread back to the hanger without further incident.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the Hanger the two Vanguards carefully laid the Dread to rest against the bay floor. Once the Dread was Hibiki immediately set off to rejoin the fight while secured Tam docked his Vanguard and moved to help with Meia's dread. He had already seen that his weapons could do no further good in the fight out there. Time to see if he could do any good in here.

As he made his way over to Meia's Dread he noticed that a group of techs were struggling with the cockpit canopy. One of them he recognised from his time on the repair teams as Louise. "Louise. What's the problem?" The female tech turned to stare at him.

"Oh Tam. The emergency buckles on the cockpit canopy have locked in place. We can't get them loose!"

"Crap!" Tam looked around frantically. Rushing over to his vanguards hanger he came back with his now famous hammer and a long metal pole.

With Louis's help he held the pole steady against the canopy crack with one hand while he used another to wield the hammer. When the pole was sufficiently wedged in he got all the available techs to pull on it. It took 5 of them in total but finally the locks gave way and the canopy jerked free.

There was no time for celebrations though. Duero raced to the now open canopy, took one look inside and started screaming orders.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Meia lay on a crash cart as it moved rapidly through the corridors of the Nirvana. A clear oxygen mask covered her face. Her eyes though open were glazed and unseeing and her left temple was a mass of blood. As he moved beside the cart Duero catalogued a list of further injuries.

"Surface wound on the head and ruptured spleen. She also has about five bone fractures."

"Stupid." Muttered Tam as he pushed the cart. "Why did you have to be so rash."

The cart raced through the main doors of the infirmary. Other injured patients hastened to get out f the way.

"Clear the treatment bed!" yelled Duero as they rushed to the critical section.

Paiway the young nurse gasped in surprise before hurrying to obey.

Quickly the two prepped Meia for treatment. Hurrying her under the medical machines of the treatment bed. Paiway's training under Duero now paying off . The two now moving together as an effective team. So focused were they that they barely even noticed when Meia's ever present black visor was swept off her head to fall to the floor.

Bending Tam carefully picked it up and put it on a nearby table. As he did so he heard Meia cry out faintly. "Mo…ther."

He turned in surprised. Only to be almost knocked off his feet as an explosion rocked the ship.

………………………………………………………………………………………… 

Outside the battle was not going well for the crew of the Nirvana.  
The new X fighters of the enemy were wreaking havoc among the dread squadrons. These new enemies were different than any that they had encountered before. The fighters worked together in seemingly well coordinated attacks. Drawing Dreads into ambushes as they ducked and weaved between the asteroids. Which was more than could be said for the Dreads.

"A team switch to formation Alpha. B team umm." Before Jura could decide on her next order a volley of shots shook her dread distracting her.

Enemy fighters took advantage of the distraction, firing on the Dread formations forcing the ships to take evasive action and scatter. But many of them were too close together and had no clear idea of where they should be going. As a result there were many near misses and a few collisions.

"Keep it together Jura. The formations are all over the place!" Yelled Barnette over the comm. channel.

"I know I know" said the Blonde a look of near panic on her face. "But.." Once again any further response was cut off by a blast of enemy fire.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile the Nirvana was fairing almost as badly as the dread teams. Unable to manoeuvre due to the depth of the field the ship was forced to remain almost motionless. With the dreads ineffective the ship had to rely more and more on its defence shields for its protection. Those shields were tough but not invulnerable. And the enemy was gradually wearing them down.  
Just then another full strength blast from one of X fighters struck the shields, causing them to flare brightly.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

The bridge was a scene of barely organised chaos as reports flooded in and the bridge techs desperately tried to deal with them.

"First rear shield is down!"

"They're concentrating their attack on the bottom hull!"

The main viewscreen was also lit up with communications from the Dread teams as they tied organise themselves.

"Team C back to formation." Yelled one pilot

"Where is everyone?" asked another

"Who the hell's leading?" yet another demanded.

"Need some help here!"

Watching the chaos of the communications BC scowled in frustration.  
"To think they would have a fighter organisation system." She thought.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Down in the Register, Gascognue's crew was also having difficulties. With the flood of repair and ammunition orders that were being sent, the staff found themselves overwhelmed. Panic began to ensue, but the head supplier kept a cool head and called for their attention.

"Easy girls. Panicking isn't going to help us win this one. Well, let's hear it."

The staff gave a simultaneous wave and replied, "Smile! Smile!"

"Carry on."

………………………………………………………………………………………

In space groups of enemy fighters continued to make strafing runs at the Nirvana. The Dreads to disorganised to counteract them. The ships shields flared and pulsed as they tried to deflect the energy directed at them.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

In his piloting chamber Bart had an excellent view of what was happening around the ship. Unfortunately this was not a benefit.

"Shit!. Go away. Go away." He screamed in panic.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Back on the bridge more reports flooded in.

"Enemy main force has split it two!"

'Three more dreads disabled!"

"The defence line won't hold!"

"We can't get to Gasco's delivery"

"Delivery failed!"

'I can't get in!"

"Why isn't there a better shield on these fighters?"

Without Meia's guidance the Dreads were failing. The well coordinated efficiency that had been a major strength against the enemy's superior numbers was gone. To make matters worse the enemy was showing a degree of coordination that they had never seen before. And more and more of them were continuing to arrive.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

In the sickbay, Duero monitored Meia's condition.  
"Paiway suppress the decrease in oxygen saturation!" The young nurse leapt to obey.  
"Stabilising the heart and lung functions is our top priority." Continued Duero before he looked down and grimaced. "Then we'll have to try and do something about the Plexis shard embedded in her head."

"What did you say Doc? That wound in her head is a Plexis shard?" Duero turned to see Tam still standing near the treatment bed.

"Yes." Replied the doctor. "You've heard how the Plexis modified some of the Dreads and Hibiki's Vanguard?"

Tam nodded briefly and Duero continued.

"The Plexis seemed to infuse the machines with a part of itself. When her ship was hit a portion of that part must have been hit. Leaving the result you see here." Then Duero looked at Tam curiously. "What are you still doing here?"

Tam shrugged. "My Vanguard's not equipped for the fight out there. I'd just be a target. I thought I'd see if you needed any help. I do have training in battlefield medicine."

Duero nodded. "Ok, can you.." Whatever the doctor was about to say was cut off as another explosion rocked the ship. This one was severe. The whole ship shuddered. Such was the force of the impact that the three in the emergency room had to struggle to keep their balance. Grabbing onto the treatment bed to keep from falling.

Tam's right hand managed to grab the edge of the bed. But his left, unbalanced, was over extended and instead of hitting the edge of the bed it came down on the injured side of Meia's head.

For a split second Tam felt a tingling in his left hand. Then the tingling surged and a force like an electric current surged up his hand to explode in the back of his head.

For a moment Tam had a feeling of weightlessness. As if he was hanging suspended in mid air. All around he could see an expanse of emerald and white light that pulsed with energy. But he barely had time to experience this before he felt his consciousness swept away again to end up somewhere else.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meia had not always been as she now was. The tough and taciturn Dread leader had once been a very different person.

The, for want of a better term, Masculine one of her parents, her Fahma had been a prominent celebrity on Majere. A large intimidating red haired woman. Her other parent, her Ohma had been a scientist. A small quiet woman, it was from her Meia got her blue hair and slight build but little else.

Meia's parents had been deeply involved in a project to speed the terraforming of Majere. Of the two worlds in the system occupied by the Men and the Women, Tarak was the marginally more habitable of the two. Humans could survive there although the existence was bleak. But Majere, beautiful though it was, was incapable of supporting human life without extensive terraforming. The air was breathable, if barely. But the planet had nothing to sustain or create the kind of environment that humans found pleasant. The current terraforming plans were long term. It would take up to a hundred years for there effects to even begin to show.  
The project that Meia's parents were involved in promised to change that.

The project generated a lot of media attention. Meia's Fahma was often called to interviews and to receptions to promote the project. Meia's Ohma disliked such gatherings choose to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. But Meia being a child loved the attention and in the way of children began to favour her Fahma who brought it and distain her Ohma who avoided it.

For several years things went well. Money for the project flooded in. Meia and her parents lived well and because of her parents Meia became something of a celebrity herself. It was during these times that Meia received two of the few personal belongings she held onto. One was a music box, given to her by her Ohma one Christmas. The other was the black half visor that she almost always wore.  
But the good times were not altogether good for Meia. Used to attention and the good things in life she became a spoiled child, used to getting her way. Things became much worse after the accident.

A massive explosion occurred at the site of the project. Meia remembered being awoken by the roar of the explosion. Of seeing her parents staring aghast at the sky lit red by fire coming from the project site. Her Ohma had gone out to see what had happened. Promising to be back soon. But she had never returned.

Later the allegations had come. Evidence of bribes between the project company and the engineering contractors had been uncovered. Angry crowds people who wanted explanations of what had happened came to their home wanting to see Meia's Fahma. But her Fahma was not there, and it was left to her quiet Ohma who had always been afraid of large groups to deal with them. But that was not the end of the disaster.

Only days after the first accident another occurred. This one commenced a chain reaction that threatened to destroy the entire on planet colony.  
Rescue ships from the Majere orbital habitats were quickly dispatched. But with only hours to prepare they were too few to evacuate all the colonists. Instead all the children were hurried to the available transports.

Meia remembered the huge crowds of people. All desperate to get on the already overcrowded transport. Meia remembered trying frantically to fight were way through the crowds. Not to board the ship as so many were trying to do. But to go back to the crowd to where here Ohma stood.

"Mom. Mom. Let's go together Mom." She had screamed. Frantic to go back to her once despised Ohma. Frantic not to loose the one remaining constant in a world that had changed so utterly from what it had been only a few short days ago.  
She remembered seeing her mother standing there amongst the crowds. How she had seen her smile sadly and shake her head.

"No. I'll stay too!" Meia had yelled. But it was too late. The press of the crowds kept her back as the door sealed in front of her. And the ship took off, barely escaping the blast of the explosion that utterly destroyed the on world colony. Leaving the women of Majere no home but their habitats in space.

All this Tam now knew. Knew it because he had seen it through Meia's eyes. Through her own memories. Somehow by touching the Plexis shard he had formed a mental bond with Meia's mind, through which he was now experiencing images of her past. Was that because that was what she was now thinking about or was there another reason?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Out in space things were getting worse. The Harvester fighters were striking at the Dread squadrons and the Nirvana with impudity. The women couldn't seem to organise to mount an effective defence.

Barnette cursed as she put her fighter in a tight roll. Barely avoiding colliding with a team mate as they both tried to avoid the fire of a Harvester fighter.

'We can't get an opening like this' she thought to herself.

"Jura. Jura!"

"Stop asking me!" screamed the Blonde in frustration from her cockpit. As the second most senior Dread pilot the task of leader fell to her. But she could not do it. She had tried to be like Meia, but nothing was working.

Meanwhile Hibiki was trying to get himself into the fight.  
"Ora. Ora. Ora!" he chanted as he dodged between the asteroids, knocking the smaller ones out of the way with the arms of his Vanguard.  
Looking around he quickly dodged aside as Dreads and Harvester X fights flashed around him.

Hibiki sighed with frustration. He had tried to engage the Harvester fighters but they were just too fast. He had no guns to shoot with and even with the training he had received from Tam the things just moved too fast to hit.

In resignation he realised that if he really wanted to be effective out here he had no choice. Reluctantly he keyed the comm. channel.

"Hey! UFO girl. We're uniting."

In her cockpit Dita jerked in shock. Pleased but surprised.  
"Huh Ok."

Swiftly Hibiki moved his Vanguard towards her Dread. As they neared one another there was a bright flash of light. When it faded the massive Blue and yellow Vandread was left. Swiftly Hibiki started the combined machine heading for the closest X fighter. With the Vandread's superior power they rapidly closed on the machine.  
Hibiki grinned in anticipation as he started to target the fighter. 'Payback time' He thought as he locked onto the fighter.

But then just as the Vandread's cannons were moving into firing position the Harvester fighter jerked upwards. Revealing the huge asteroid directly in their path. Hibiki jerked back in surprise. Luckily Dita, with a Dread pilot's instinct was able to jerk them out of the way at the last moment. Still it had been a close thing.

"Damn." Yelled Hibiki in frustration. "I still can't catch it.  
Just then a familiar red Dread flew past having observed the whole thing.

"What. Is this all you've got after talking big" called Jura scathingly.

"Shut up! You can't even lead properly." retorted Hibiki.

In her cockpit Jura's eyes widened in Anger. "What! I don't have to take that from a Man!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge BC listened to the continuing argument as well as the other comm. traffic.

"We have too much delivery order. We can't take them all."

"Report!"

"I can't say anything now!"

"It seems that we've depended too much on Meia's leadership." Commented BC out loud. "We've neglected the training of the sub leader."

"She'd the one that didn't do it." Responded Magno.  
BC turned to face the captain in surprise.  
"She avoided contact with other people any more than necessary" continued Magno.  
"She felt that she couldn't depend on others. I thought something like this might happen from the first day I picked her up." Mused Magno as she thought back remembering how Meia had been in those days.

If she had known she might have been very surprised to realise that at that moment she and Tam were both remembering the same part of Meia's life.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

After the accident the fame and celebrity status that she had once loved became a curse. Everywhere she went people recognised her as the child of the two that were now blamed for the terraforming accident that had cost so many lives. In polite society not matter where she went she could not avoid the stigmata of that incident. So as she grew older she avoided that society.

As she grew older she associated herself more and more with the outcasts of Majere. The gangs and the thugs that made their homes in the lower levels. The refuse sections of the habitats. After a time she realised that she had nothing left to loose, and so she lost her fear of death. This served as an advantage in the hard society of the gangs. Physically pain served to lesion the emotional pain that was a constant part of her. She learned to fight in a hard school where her lack of fear and her anger served her well. Enabling her to beat opponents older and stronger than herself.

She found companionship of a kind with the gangs. She found comfort for her pain in drink, drugs and pleasures of the flesh. But it was essentially a meaningless existence a life without purpose. No matter how hard she fought, the thrill of victory never lasted. No matter how much she drank or what she took the pain always returned. And although she sought solace in the arms of several lovers none of them could give her what she needed. What she had lost. And what was worse she blamed herself for what she felt. That led to her current state of mind

Tam felt her thoughts as her memories faded.

'I don't need anything important. Because if you have something important you are weak. I want to be strong. Whatever happens I don't want to hurt at all. I want strength.'

Then her thoughts changed, became filled with pain.

'But it's still not enough. Even after all I have done I can still be hurt. I can still feel that pain. I don't want to live. I don't want to live if it means always having to endure that!

Suddenly the pain peaked. Tam could feel it. Feel the anguish feel the raw emotion. He could feel it pushing him out of her mind. But in the time before he was forced out he was able to sense one final thought through the mental link.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

In the sick room Tam suddenly opened his eyes and gasped. Stunned by the intensity of what he had experienced. Looking down he saw he was still standing by the treatment table. His hand still on Meia's head. Quickly he snatched it away.

At the motion Duero suddenly turned around in surprise. 'Tam!"

"Duero." Tam replied groggily. "What happened."

"That's what I was hoping you could tell me! The moment you touched Meia's head you went into some kind of trance. I couldn't wake you, couldn't even move you. What the hell is going on?"

Tam shook his head trying to clear it. "No time for that now. What's Meia's condition?"

Duero automatically turned away and started to report. "I've treated the spleen and set the fractures. Her heart and lungs are now working normally. Physically she appears to be out of danger. But despite this.."

"Her brain waves are deteriorating. She's dying."

Duero jerked round in surprise. "Yes. The Plexis piece that entered is causing some kind of negative reaction. Its eroding her brain cells and the damage is accelerating."

"She's falling into despair. She's giving up the will to live."

Once again Duero jerked in surprise and turned towards Tam determined to ask him how he knew. But before he got the chance the medical monitor started beeping, signalling a further deterioration in Meia's condition.  
Duero turned immediately to Meia. "Hang on. You must live!" he yelled at her.

'But she can't hear you' thought Tam. 'Not that way.' And an idea started to form in his mind.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Elsewhere on the ship techs and register staff were frantically trying to repair and rearm the dreads. Frustrated by the lack of success so far BC had recalled all of the Dreads to the Nirvana to rearm and reorganise.

This left the Harvester fighter's free reign to attack the Nirvana and the ship was now being hit with increasing frequency. So far the shields were holding, but only because all non essential power was being redirected to them. And there was a limit to how long they could last.

In the register Jura sat in a corner huddled over in despair.

"I can't do it. I can't do what Meia does."

"Stop being conceited." Said another voice.

Jura looked up in surprise to see Gascognue. "No ones expecting you to replace Meia." She continued. "That means its ok for you to relax and depend on others."

Jura's eyes widened in surprise.

"Take a look around you." Said Gascognue pointing around the register.

Jura saw pilots putting in their orders, register girls hard at work. Elsewhere register girls helped tend to the wounded pilots, while other pilots gathered to discuss tactics.

"You don't have to push yourself to do something you can't.. Its ok to let them know what you can do an what you cant. After that everyone can help you out."

Jura nodded her head. Thankful for the older woman's advice. Meanwhile outside the Nirvana Hibiki and Dita were still huddled in the Vandread which was currently clinging to the hull.

"Shit this is frustrating." Said Hibiki as another blast of fire struck the shields.

"Will leader die.." said Dita suddenly. Hibiki looked up I surprise.  
Dita continued. "If that happens…" Hibiki suddenly interrupted her.

"My Granpa used to say. Even if you think and worry about something an answer doesn't always present itself. What's important is that you can laugh with a sigh of relief at the end." Hibiki paused and turned towards Dita.  
"Leave her to Duero. What's important now is that we protect the ship that has the treatment room. Isn't that right?"

"Yeah' said Dita. "Thanks Mr Alien!" At this Hibiki became red faced and turned away.  
"She'd probably have said that anyway."

Just then a communication screen activated and Jura's voice rang out.

"Listen up everyone. We're changing the frequencies on the energy shields and our beam cannons. Match the pattern that's been sent to you. If we do that we can at least prevent our being hurt by each others fire."

At this Hibiki's eyes lit up and an idea occurred to him. "Yeah that's it!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Outside the bombardment continued. A Harvester X fighter came in on a long strafing run. A sustained burst from its main cannon was finally able to temporarily penetrate the weakened shields, striking the Nirvana's port spontoon.

On the bridge damage reports flooded in.

"Port side damaged. The ship is listing to one side!"

"Area 6 to 9 hit. Power is down."

BC slammed the edge of a console in frustration. More reports poured through.

"Plexis level is…"

"Shield power has dropped again."

"Dread team support ready yet?"

Suddenly Hibiki's voice broke through over the comm. channel.

"There's no use struggling like that."

The woman on the bridge turned to the main screen in surprise.

"I have an idea!"

They listened while he explained it. Magno's opinion of it was succinct.

"You want to die?"

"Heh." Smirked Hibiki. "Stop joking I don't care for a double suicide with women. And besides I haven't tasted the Peskatore yet."

Magno smiled. "If this goes well I'll let you eat until you die.

"Yeah!" responded Hibiki. "If I'm going to die anyway's, I'd rather die like that."

Magno and BC exchanged a smile at the kid's attitude, this was soon interrupted with another call.

"Captain this is Tam I need to talk to you!"

Magno looked at Tams image.

"Oho and what have you been up to?"

"No time to explain. I need your memories of Meia."

"What?" asked Magno thoroughly confused.

"I need you to repeat memories of her. Recent ones, positive ones. Memories starting from the time she joined you."

"Tam how important is this, if you hadn't noticed we're busy at the moment."

Tam lowered his voice. "For Meia its life and death."

Looking into his eyes Magno could see the conviction in them, the seriousness.  
Nodding she turned briefly.

"BC take over." Before turning back to Tam and telling him what she remembered.  
………………………………………………………………………………………..

Back in the sickbay Tam cut the connection. What Magno had told him had been fairly brief, but it would be enough. He hoped. Steeling himself he turned towards the treatment bed. To his knowledge he had never before done what he was about to attempt.

Mind healing was fairly new in the Empire from what he remembered. The use of an Esper to heal people's minds. The means was not new. Espers had been around for hundreds of years. It was just that until recently 'normals' had not trusted espers enough to let them into their minds. To Tam's knowledge he had not been an esper when he had served with the fleet. Hell there wasn't even a trace of it in his ancestry. But then again before he hadn't had the boost either.

He didn't claim to understand what was happening. But he knew, knew with an absolute certainty that if he touched Meia again he could re-establish that mental link. And he knew that if he used it he had a chance of saving her, where as if he didn't she was sure to die. Put that way there really wasn't a choice.

So moving quietly he brought himself to the head of the treatment bed and before Duero could stop him, once again brought his hand to her wound.  
……………………………………………………………………………………….

This time there was no pause. Once second he was standing in the medical room, the next he found himself in the midst of Meia's memories.

He saw her lying on a bed. Crying in despair as a music box played in the background.

"I .. I don't want to live." He heard her say in her mind. "Somebody ..just.."

Feeling there was not a moment to lose. He reached inside himself. Forcing himself to recall what Magno had said to him. Then with a supreme effort of will he forced those memories out into Meia's mind.

"You've really been spoiled by your family." Rang out Magno's voice. Cutting through the despair and self pity.

The scene shifted as Tam forced Meia into another memory.

He saw here looking up at Magno through Hazy eyes.

"You're depending on someone else for you life and death?" asked Magno "If you plan to die anyway's I'll prepare the place for you."

That said she threw an object at Meia which she caught between her cupped hands. Which when she opened them was revealed to be a laser ring. The signature weapon of the pirates.

From there flashes of her life with the pirates sped by, most too fast to follow. Tam instead focussed on the words Magno had said.

"From then on she learned the job to death. She was talented from the start too. Soon she learned how to pilot the dread. Meia! Don't die you haven't won your stake yet."

Then suddenly the memories ended. Tam found himself retched away. But he did not return to his body but was taken to another part of Meia's mind. …………………………………………………………………………………………

In space the preparations for Hibiki's plan were almost complete. The dreads had formed themselves up within the protection of the Nirvana's shields. Waiting for the signal.

"Well I'm beginning to get hungry." Said Hibiki "So let's take them out in one shot."

………………………………………………………………………………………..

In medical Duero was staring at the scene before him. Tam stood there, his hand on Meia's head. His eyes were closed and he was apparently doing nothing. But he could not be woken or moved. What's more Meia's brain degradation had slowed. Duero had no idea what Tam was doing or how. But for want of a better idea he would trust the mysterious man, for now.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

In space the X fighters of the Harvesters had gathered themselves in a formation. All twelve of them moved in perfect synchrony. First as a cross, then as a diamond. It was obvious that they were aiming to combine their firepower in an error to overwhelm the Nirvana. Under than concentrated power the shields would not be able to survive for long. But hopefully they would survive long enough.

Suddenly the harvester's formation condensed into a single point. From that ponit beams of red energy flew to impact against the shields. Striking them with a constant barrage. Across the Nirvana lights flickered as the engines struggled desperately to meet the strain.

In the piloting chamber Bart cried out in pain. Through his link to the ship he could feel the heat of the beams. "Ouch. Not yet?"

"Not yet." Said Hibiki

On the scanners the Harvester ships could be seen closing on the Nirvana.

"Just a little more." Said Hibiki

The bombardment was unrelenting. Here and there portions of the shield gave way, letting the beams through. It was only by luck that none struck the ship itself.

"Shields have been knocked back to level three." Reported a bridge tech.

"Distance 1200." Reported another.

In the Vandread Hibiki's eyes stayed focussed on the target. It wasn't just the X fighters now. A seed ship, probably their home base and waves of cube fighters had also joined the attack. The enemy was bringing all its forces in foe the kill.

"Distance 900!"

"Now!" yelled Hibiki.

Instantly the Dreads surged forward firing with everything they had as they charged outward. Coming from behind the protection of the screen the enemy had no idea they were there. The enemy were charging straight for the Nirvana, as the dreads fired many of the fighters and cubes were destroyed before they had a chance to evade. But even so only a fraction of the enemy force was destroyed.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meia suddenly felt a jerk in her mind. Images from her past flashed before her.

"Meia be strong." Said her Fahma

"Forgive Fahma" said her Ohma

"No I'll stay too." She heard herself cry as the ships doors closed cutting of her last view of her Ohma.

"Why are you closing your mind off so much." Asked a memory of Magno.

"I don't need anything precious." She heard herself say.

"You should take it easy." Said a memory of Bart.

And the last memory the most unexpected. "We never leave our people behind!" said the voice of Tam as he reached out to her.

Suddenly Meia was aware of something in her mind. "Why are you.." was all she had time to ask before she felt herself swept away again.

She felt herself lying, curled in a ball in a field of long grass that blew gently in the breeze under a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. From somewhere the sound of her music box carried through. The music that her Ohma had told her was from the song "It's a wonderful world'. A song from old earth.  
'Finally' she thought. 'I can rest'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

At that moment all of Meia's medical monitors suddenly flatlined.

"Meia!" Yelled Paiway in anguish.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In space the Vandread containing Hibiki and Dita charged forward straight into the teeth of the enemy fire. The Vandread's arms were raised before it, attempting to ward off the incoming blasts. They were partly successful, but they were also becoming red with heat as more and more blasts struck the machine.

In the cockpit Dita cried out. "I can't take any more of this!"

"Don't give up so easily!" yelled Hibiki. Shocked Dita turned to look at him.

"The funs just starting." He said to her as he smiled. "Let's go!" Suddenly the Vanguard extended its arms. The massive pylons that formed its main weapons slid down from the shoulders to link with the gauntlet blades on its arms. For a second the mighty machine hung there crackling with energy as it charged itself. And then with a sudden burst it let that energy go.

Massive beams of energy flew out to strike not the enemy machines, but the Dread fighters in their prearranged places. Upon contact with each Dreads shields the beams refracted Breaking into numerous smaller beams. The number of beams continued to increase as the shots ricochet among the propositioned Dreads. Until a massive cylinder of destructive energy made up of thousands of crisscrossing beams cut through the space before the Nirvana. Destroying everything in its path. Asteroids, cube fighters, X-Fighters and even the giant seed ship that has spawned them. Nothing withstood the destructive power that had been unleashed. Nothing except the Dread's whose shields had been modulated to fit the frequency of the beams.

………………………………………………………………………………………….  
On the bridge BC looked out in shock.  
"What the…? To use our own fighters as reflectors!"

"Pretty impressive for a man's shallow wit." Commented Magno.  
"Maybe the new one is a good influence on him. Speaking of which what is he doing?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meia saw images of her mother flash before her eyes.

"Mom is.."

"A weak person. I don't have the courage to go out like Fahma or you." Said her mothers voice.

"No!" yelled Meia. "Mom wasn't weak. I was the weak one. I didn't have the courage to find out about people's feelings. I was scared to expose myself. I was afraid of being disliked."

Looking up Meia saw the image of her Ohma moving away. Moving towards a bright shining light.

"No!" she yelled as she got up and ran towards the image. "No Mom wait!"

"Meia." Came the voice of her mother. "This is not your place child. It's not yet time. Go back. Go back to where you belong. Where people rely on you!"

"No! Wait Mom. I have to tell you something." Yelled Meia as she ran towards the light.

"Meia. You are a kind child with a strong heart. It's ok to stop blaming yourself. You must go back. Open your heart to others. Its ok you will see me again. But now you must go back."

"No. Mom!" Meia yelled as she threw herself towards the light, regardless of the warning.

Then a pair of strong hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her backwards.  
Shocked she fought and twisted in the grip. But she could not break loose. Finally she twisted to face her assailant and gasped in shock.

It was Tam. The man stood there looking utterly exhausted. His face was pale and he was breathing shallowly. Blood ran down from his nose coating the front of his shirt. But although he looked nearly dead, his face was locked in a grimace of concentration and determination shone in his eyes.

"Let me go." Yelled Meia as she fought. "I need to get to the light, I need to see my mother!"

"No!" Yelled Tam through gritted teeth.

"Why? Yelled Meia. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm trying to save your life." Yelled Tam angrily as he pulled her back. "If you reach the light you will die!"

Meia turned to face him in shock. "But I have to see my mother. I have to tell her something."

Tams face softened. "And you will. You will see her again. But not yet. Not yet. Now please let me take you back. Where there are people who care for you. Where there are people that need you. Where we all need you." The last was said softly barely more than a whisper.

Meia realised that Tam was utterly exhausted. That if she tried hard enough she could break away from him and go to her mother. But his very appearance gave her pause. As did Magno's words from earlier. So she surrendered and allowed him to draw her back.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

She woke up to bright lights shinning in her eyes. Suddenly Paiway's tearful face stood in front of the light.

"Good Meia." Said Paiway in a tearful voice. "You came back."

Meia smiled. "What a face you have." She said. Reaching up she gasped in shock to find her visor gone, but then found it lying by her side.

As she reached out to touch it she caught a glimpse of Duero leading away Tam in another part of the infirmary. Although the glance was brief she had time to see the bright red blood that covered Tam's front.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Later that night Meia walked through the cafeteria. The lights were dimmed, which in a way seemed fitting given that the place looked like a battle field.

The tables, chairs and even the floors were covered with the remains of a truly massive feast and with the forms of sleeping crewmembers.

Jura and Barnette lay fast asleep. Sitting against the wall, leaning on each other. Hibiki lay fast asleep at his chair. A bottle for a pillow. A truly impressive number of plates stacked around him. Across from him Dita lay asleep with her hands on her arms. Bit as Meia walked around she noticed that the one she was looking for was not there.

"Everyone did well." Came Magno's voice suddenly.

Meia looked up in surprise. "Boss"

"Isn't it mysterious. He's the complete opposite of you. This totally open idiot." Said Magno as she covered Hibiki with his jacket.  
"Before anyone knew it he was one of us. However the other one, he's much more like you."

"Tam you mean?" asked Meia.

"Mm Hmm" responded Magno. "Duero tells me that he performed another fancy trick. Brought you back from the brink."

Meia nodded uncomfortably.

"Makes me wonder what he'll do next." Said Magno wistfully. She turned to Meia.  
"Were you looking for him? Do you want to know where he is?"

"No boss its ok. I think I know." Said Meia as she started to move towards the door.

"Meia!" said Magno as she left. Meia stopped and turned to look at her questioningly.  
'Isn't it about time you forgave yourself?"

Meia stood there for a moment. Then slightly, but firmly she nodded and left.

………………………………………………………………………………………

She found Tam in the Plexis chamber. Standing on one of the metal walkways that surrounded the giant crystal. Quietly she made her way towards him. She stopped surprised when he spoke out without turning to look at her.

"Hello Meia."

"How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"How did you know I was here?" He responded without turning around.

She nodded slowly and moved forward to stand near him. For a while they stood there in silence. Tam was the first to break it.

"I'm sorry." He said, still not turning to face her.

She turned to look at him surprised. "For what?"

"For what I did to you."

"You're sorry you saved my life?"

"What! No." Finally in his shock he turned to face her. "I'm sorry that I entered your mind; saw your memories without your permission. That was unforgivable."

Meia looked confused. "You did what you did to save my life. I know that. What you saw I did not want to share with anyone, but neither did I really want to die."

Tam turned to look at her surprised. "You're not angry?"

Meia looked away. "No. I'm not happy about it. But I'm not angry with you. Although I wish you didn't know my weakness."

Now Tam looked confused. "What do you mean?"

She turned to look at him slightly angry. "Come on. You saw what I did to myself. The way I acted. After that how can you not consider me weak?"

Tam surprised her by laughing softly. "You. Weak? Meia you're one of the strongest people I have ever met."

She turned to him angrily convinced he was mocking her. But when she looked in his eyes she saw only sincerity. "How can you say that?" she asked disbelieving. "After I let myself feel like that, after I let that affect me so."

"That just shows you are a human being." Responded Tam. "Feeling pain doesn't make you weak Meia. Pain s part of life. It's a sign of strength that we can bear the weight of great pain and still go on. You have suffered more in your life than many have, yet you have not let it crush you. You have built yourself up again. If that is not strength I don't know what is."

Meia was silent for a minute while she absorbed his words. "And what I did on the desert planet. Was that strength too?"

Tam shrugged. "You chose to face your fears head on. You did not conquer them, but you didn't give in. That's all a man can be expected to do."

"I'm not a man." Said Meia tartly.

Tam's looked up and flushed. "Sorry, figure of speech." He apologised smiling ruefully.

Meia let it pass. For a while they stood in a companionable silence. This time it was Meia that broke it.

"Why were you ashamed that you looked into my mind?"

Tam let his breath out slowly. "In the empire there were very strict laws concerning telepaths. Those able to read another's thoughts. One of the cardial ones was never to enter another's mind without permission. It was considered a grave offence to break those laws."

Meia snorted. "As I said before you doing what you did saved my life. Are you ashamed of that?"

Tam was quiet for a while before he responded. When he did hid voice was low. "No but I am worried that being able to do that may mean that I am no longer human."

Meia frowned confused at the unfamiliar word. Then decided it must mean a certain kind of man. "Well don't worry about that. As far as I am concerned you are still definitely a man."

Tam looked at her confused for a moment. Then he smiled. For a while then stood there, staring at the Plexis. Finally Meia turned to go.

As she drew away she stopped and turned. "Tam."

He turned surprised. That was the first time she had called him by his name.

She hesitated, and then spoke. "Thank you for saving my life. Both today, and before."

He smiled then saluted her. Fist to heart as he bowed his head. "It was my pleasure Meia."

She nodded and turned to move away while he turned back to stare at the Plexis.

He could feel her moving away in his mind. Could feel where she was on the ship. Just like she had been able to sense and find him. As a result of the mental connection they had shared they could now feel each others presence. By mutual unspoken agreement they had decided not to discuss that.

He did not know what the mental link was. If it would fade. If it was permanent or if it would (scary thought) grow stronger. But that was a concern for another day. Today he was focused on the Plexis. The giant crystal energy source hung before him, full of secrets. It had brought him here, it had helped him change, just as it had changed the ship, the Dreads and Hibiki's Vanguard and it was changing him further. But how or why he had no idea. He also suspected that it was suppressing portions of his memory. It was the only reason he could think of that would explain why he could not remember certain things. Yet he could do nothing about it. After all how do you threaten a rock that is also the power source of the ship you are travelling on? But at the same time he was becoming both more aware and less susceptible to it. When he had first arrived he had been unable to look at it without falling into a trance. Now, he had been staring at it for the last few hours with no effect. It gave him hope for the future.

"Keep your secrets for the moment." He said out loud. "But do not doubt that one day, I will have them from you."

As he turned to go a sight caught his eye. A strand of the outer crystals of the Plexis hung within arms length of the gantry on which he walked. On the strand he saw three small crystals that glowed with an inner light. Curious moved over to them and reached out. They seemed to drop into his hand of their own violation. He almost dropped them in shock.

Warily he considered them. Somehow he knew without doubt what they were. 'Power Crystals' he thought. But what for? Suddenly he felt a touch on his mind, feather light and swiftly gone. But its message remained. "For the tools of your trade." And then he knew.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Whoa. Another Huge chapter, I've got to stop doing this.

Seriously though if you review can you let me know if you prefer long chapters or short chapters? I tend to write long ones but that also means they often take a while to get out.

You may notice that this differs a little from the episode differs a little from the Anime episode. Main reason for that is to my mind it never was explained how they got Meia back on the Nirvana after her fighter was hit. Also I needed to change a few things to get it flowing properly and create the interaction between Tam and Meia.

Next chapter will hopefully be out within a month, until then please read and review.

The more reviews I get the faster I will write.

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

(1) CAC Combat Air Control 


	9. VanStalker Chapter 7: Deep beneath the w...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.**

**Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.**

**DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.**

Vanstalker Chapter 6: Deep beneath the wake

……………………………………………………………………………………….

All was not quite as it should be on the Nirvana. The crew of a ship can tell when everything is as it should be. All ships have a vibe, a heartbeat. The combined noise of many items of machinery operating together as one becomes a background noise so familiar that it is only noticed by its absence, or when something disturbs it.

One of the repair crews were making a final sweep through the section of the ship that had formally been the Ikazuchi, the men's ship. Despite the fact that the two ships were now completely joined most of the women rarely ventured outside of the section that had been their ship before the bizarre incident with the plexis caused the two ships to merge. Partly because being women many were still faintly distrustful of anything male, despite the fact that they had grown accustomed to the four men now on board. But mostly it was because there was little of interest in the male section of the ship. The old section of the ship was a mass of old living quarters, workshops and machinery. Almost all of which was badly maintained and looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the colonisation days. So this section of the ship was almost unoccupied, save for the maintenance teams.

It had been a couple of weeks since the Nirvana's near disastrous battle in the asteroid field. Over that time the considerable damage the ship had sustained in the battle had gradually been repaired by Parfaits devoted teams of techs. The current team was performing a final inspection of the section when they heard the noises.

"What's that?" asked once of the female techs.

"What's what?" asked Celeste not looking up from the datapad she was consulting.

"That noise. Cant you hear it?" responded the tech. "It's a banging sound, like metal hitting metal."

Celeste and the other members of the repair detail stopped what they were doing and listened. Sure enough they could make out a faint chiming sound, characteristic of metal hitting metal. But the chiming was faint, as it was coming from a long way away.

"Where's it coming from?" asked another curiously

"From the core of this section, the workshops. Which is strange because there shouldn't be any repair teams down there." Commented Celeste.

"Should we check it out?" asked Louise.

"No" said Celeste firmly. "It's coming from the center of the ship, so it's outside our area of responsibility. We'll log a report but that's it. Besides our shifts almost over and I have an appointment at the Jacuzzi that I'm not going to miss."

The others laughed at this then started packing up their tools eager to finish the shift. Celeste grunted as she lifted the heavy gear bag to her shoulder.

"Damn it where's that man when you need him?" she commented softly, but not softly enough.

"What's that, you didn't just say you were missing Tam did you Celeste?" said Louise in mock surprise.

Celeste scowled but said nothing. For the last couple of weeks Tam had joined them in his old spot on the repair team. And though Celeste would never say it she had appreciated the help that the man had been. Especially when it came to lifting heavy objects! That didn't mean that she trusted him anymore though.

"Where is Tam anyway?" asked another of the Techs.

"Probably back in the Vanguard bay." Said Louise. "He was only with us to help us finalise the repairs while we were travelling intrasystem. Although I did hear him say that there was something else that he was going to be working on."

Celeste listened to this interestedly. 'Some other project the man was going to be working on. I wonder what that could be?'

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Later that day Magno and the other senior personnel of the Nirvana were meeting in the conference room behind the bridge. Present at the meeting for the first time was Duero, who Magno felt should be included as the senior medical officer on the ship.

"So that's about all Boss." Said Parfait. "The repair teams finished their final sweeps today and reported that everything checks out. We've fixed everything we can without access to a dockyard."

"Thank you Parfait. Gascognue, hows the supply situation?"

"Overall I would say fair boss." Commented the brawny commander of the register. "That last battle used up a lot of ordnance so we should try to ration missiles and mines as much as possible until we can resupply. Fuel and materials are no problem, we were able to scavenge a fair bit from the wreckage of the Harvester ships from the battle and from the automated mining facilities we found afterwards. The only thing that concerns me is fresh water and supplies. At the moment we still have a good supply of both but I still wouldn't mind stocking up."

"Agreed" said Magno. "We still have no idea what else we may encounter on this voyage that may delay our return to Mejere space. I'd rather have an excess of food as a safety net than continue on the assumption that the supplies will hold out. Ok we'll make resupplying a priority the next chance we get. Now Doctor do you have anything to report."

"Not much Captain." Said Duero reading from a dataslate in front of him.

"There are still a few members of the crew in sickbay. Mainly those that sustained broken bones in the last engagement. But they are all healing well and should be able to return to duty within a few weeks. The rest of the crew that were injured in the last battle have already returned to duty. In fact the only one that was seriously injured was Meia and as you know she was.. released from the sickbay later the same day."

As she listened Meia's expression did not change but inside she smiled slightly as the doctor said released. In fact Duero had been determined that she should stay in the sickbay for at least another 24 hours just so that he could be sure that there were no other injuries or unknown side effects of what she had been through. It was only when he realised that he would have had to tie her to the table to stop her that he had agreed to let her go, abet with extreme reluctance.

"Indeed." said Magno. "We are fortunate to have someone of your skills on board doctor."

Duero smiled at the comment. He had no doubt that the words were sincere but they also masked a hidden message. They had met after the battle and had agreed that the rest of the crew would not be told of the part Tam had played in Meia's recovery. Rumour's about the man's abilities had already spread wildly throughout the ship. There was no point in inflaming matters further.

"Well then, if that's all then I suggest we call it a day."

Unexpectedly BC responded. "Before we go boss, I noticed that Tam wasn't here today. Any particular reason for that?"

Magno looked at BC, slightly surprised that she had raised this question. 'Then

again' she thought to herself, 'BC has been showing quite a bit of interest in Tam since he started manifesting these strange powers. Looking round she realised that all the others in the room also looked interested in the answer. Even Meia. Although she was trying to hide it, feigning indifference, Magno could tell she was listening carefully.

"I didn't ask him along because this was just a routine meeting, none of his special skills seemed to apply. Also since the repairs were finished he asked me if he could requisition some equipment and resources to work on something that would help him do his job better. I agreed."

"Is that what he wanted that stuff for?" commented Gascognue

All eyes turned in her direction. Gascognue shrugged and continued.

"Tam came to the register a couple of days ago and asked to requisition some equipment. Since he had your authorisation Boss I let him have it."

"You didn't check to see what he was requesting?" asked BC in shock.

Gascognue turned to her. "Of course I did, I checked everything he took out. But it was all harmless stuff. He took a small amount of electronic components and tools, but the rest of it was a load of basic metals. A lot of iron, some copper, bronze and a few other things."

"That's all he took?" asked BC in surprise.

Gascognue leaned back in her chair and scratched her chin. "Well he also took a fair bit of synthleather, but I have no idea what he would have wanted that for."

The others looked around the room in puzzlement. Clearly confused by what Tam could have wanted with such basic items.

"Doctor have you any idea what he's up too?" asked Magno.

"I'm afraid I don't." said Duero. In fact I have seen very little of Tam or Hibiki for the last few days. Not even for training."

"Training?" asked Magno

Duero nodded. "Tam used to lead Hibiki and myself through an exercise routine each morning. But a few days ago he told me that he would be unable to attend for a while. Since that time I have seen very little of either him or Hibiki. They usually leave their cots before I get up and are usually asleep by the time I return from the sick bay."

"They gave no clue as to what they are doing?" asked BC.

"None" said Duero. "But what ever it is it must be exhausting, they both sleep like the dead."

"Is there anything else strange that you have noticed about their behaviour Doctor?" asked Magno.

Duero was about to shake his head, but then suddenly he looked thoughtful.

"Doctor?" persisted Magno.

Finally Duero sighed. "Well there is one thing. For the last couple of days Tam has been coming in briefly to make deposits of blood."

Duero was suddenly the recipient of the shocked stares of every woman around the table.

"What do you mean he's been making deposits of blood?" asked Meia in shock.

Duero shrugged. "Just that, he has been coming in and extracting a portion of his own blood for me to put in medical storage."

"And you did not find this surprising?" asked Gascognue in shock.

"Not really its fairly common practise on Tarak. We do not have haemoglobin regenerators like you do to regenerate a wounded person's lost blood. Replacement blood for the injured must come from transfusions or from donated blood that we keep in storage. I just assumed that Tam either wasn't aware of the haemoglobin regenerators or he simply wanted to have a stock of his own blood on hand should he need it."

"But why should he need it?" asked Parfait.

"Well he does have the current record for becoming seriously injured. It may be that he felt his own blood would assist his healing should he need it." Said Magno.

The other women on the table became silent as they contemplated this rather gruesome (to them) insight into Tarak medical techniques.

Unexpectedly it was Meia who restarted the conversation.

"Then where has he been for the last couple of days. I've been looking from him and Hibiki on the Vanguard deck but they haven't been there."

"You went looking from Tam Meia?" asked Gascognue a strange glitter in her eyes.

Meia almost, but not quite, flushed. "I wanted to talk to him and the brat about the role of their Vanguards into the defence of the ship. We need to discuss how to integrate them into the dread formations tactics."

"Ah you were interested in integration. Now it's all clear." Said Gascognue.

Meia looked at the register officer. Gascognue looked completely serious but it had almost seemed like there was another meaning behind that comment.

Then Magno started to speak again.

"When I gave him permission to use some of the facilities I assumed that he would be using the Vanguard bays. If he's not there then I have no idea where he and the kid could be."

"Um" Everyone turned to look at Parfait.

"Yes Parfait." Asked BC

"I didn't think anything of it at the time subcommander, but one of the repair teams mentioned that they heard some noises near the center of the lower hull."

"The lower hull." Commented Gascognue in surprise. "What's down there?"

"Its mainly old workshops from the colonisation era partly refitted by the men. We don't use them because what's down there is pretty primitive by our standards."

"Then what could Tam be looking for down there?" asked BC.

Suddenly Magno pushed away from her seat and stood up. The others turned to stare questioningly at her. He answer was simple "Lets go and find out."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Magno lead the way for the first part of the trip. The sight of the ships senior officers all walking together got some surprised stares from the crew, but no one attempted to follow them or question what they were doing.

When they got to the lower level Magno faltered, as if unsure where to go. But suddenly Meia started striding purposefully down the corridors. Magno and the others blinked in surprise for a moment and then followed her. For several minutes they travelled down the corridors taking several turns. Magno was about to ask Meia where she was going when suddenly they all heard it.

Coming from up a head there came a steady noise. The rhythm varied slightly.

"Clang, clang clang clang. Clang"

Pause

"Clang, clang clang clang. Clang"

The rhythm continued to repeat itself.

The group looked at one another for a moment and then turned and moved towards the sound of the noise.

It became steadily louder as the moved on. Until bare minutes later they arrived at the door to a large room.

Parfait looked at the sign over the door curiously. "What does that sign say?"

"Metal workshop." Said BC distractedly. "But what would Tam want here?"

Magno moved forward and pressed the open button on the door. The clanging sounds suddenly increased dramatically. Strange odours and faint smoke flowed through the newly opened door. Puzzled and curious the others stared forward, and looked through.

Into a scene of Hell.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Or at least it must have seemed like one to any who were aware of the reference. Which perhaps fortunately none of them, except possibly Magno, were.

The interior of the room was dark and dimly lit with the exception of a roaring red glow in the center of the room.

A wave of heat assaulted them as they moved to enter the room. Sweeping over them. Forcing them back, making them instinctively cover their eyes. It was heat such as few of them had ever felt in their lives, save perhaps Duero who was familiar with the scorching desert winds that could sweep across the surface of Tarak in the summer.

Slowly blinking back the tears that automatically formed in their eyes they moved forward to stare inside. As their eyes adjusted to the bright red glow two figures could be seen. One was the diminutive form of Hibiki, he was clad only in a pair of shorts, sweat glistened on his body. They could see that he was pumping some kind of mechanism. His whole body moving with obvious effort in long easy strokes. They also noticed that as he completed each stroke the red glow seemed to increase in intensity before dying down. Only to flare again at the next stroke.

But little attention was paid to Hibiki, who was so focussed on his task that he did not notice them. Instead everyone's gaze was focussed on Tam.

Tam stood directly before the red glow. It outlined him so that more of him was visible in shadow than in light. Like Hibiki his chest was bear and glistened with sweat. Unlike Hibiki he wore a pair of pants, heavy boots and an apron made out of some dark material. In his hands he held a pair on tongs and a hammer, but it was what he was doing with them that caught everyone's attention.

Before him stood a large rectangle of dark metal. On its top surface was a glowing red object. The objects tips had started to darken but its center still glowed a fierce red. Fires played along the surface of the rectangle of dark metal. Tam was rhythmically beating the glowing object with the hammer while he held it firmly in place with the tongs. It was a strange process to watch. Tam hammered fast almost furiously, but there was no sense of anger or carelessness in what he did. Instead each stroke was delivered precisely, carefully, with an artistry that could not be denied for all that it was furious. And the noise was terrible. Here was the source of the clanging that they had heard on their journey here.

Magno had noticed that Tam had looked up as they entered and had nodded briefly.

But he had then gone back to his work, seemingly ignoring them. After a few moments Magno noticed BC starting to move forward her mouth open to speak. But Magno put her cane forward stopping her. BC glanced at her questioningly but Magno only shook her head and motioned to her to wait.

And so they waited and watched for several minutes on end as Tam hammered the glowing object on the rectangle. As the object gradually started to darken Magno noticed that there were dark patches on or within it. She also noticed that Tam seemed to be marking these out for special attention as he hammered. Finally when almost the entire length of the object had darkened to a dull red Tam picked it up with the tongs. He held it close to his face, inspecting it carefully. Then with a decisive moment he thrust it into the center of the bright red glow.

Then turning he set down the hammer and tongs and drank deeply from a vessel on the ground before making his way over to them.

"Captain." Said Tam respectfully. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Magno noticed that in addition to the sweat his body was covered with a layer of dust and grime. She also noticed small irregular burn marks all over his torso.

"Well I came to see what this project you were working on was. I realised that I ever actually asked you what you were planning to do."

Tam shrugged. "It's simple enough. I'm forging some weapons specifically a sword and a knife."

"You're forging weapons. By hand!" said Parfait incredulously. "Why do you want to waste time doing that? We have machines on the ship that could turn out a sword blade in the faction on the time it would take you to make one that way."

Tam turned and smiled at her. "I don't doubt you have machines that could make a sword Parfait, but it wouldn't be the kind that I need. I'm making a special kind of sword and it can only be made by hand. A machine couldn't do it."

Parfait looked decidedly unconvinced. Tam laughed at her expression. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you make a sword your way? When it's finished we'll compare it against mine and we'll see."

Parfait looked thoughtful and nodded at this, but before she could say anything Magno interrupted her. "Interesting as that may be it doesn't answer the question of why you need a sword in the first place."

Tam looked at Magno in mild surprise. "I thought I told you that already Captain. To better do my job."

"So how is this sword supposed to better help you pilot your Vanguard?"

"It wont." Responded Tam. "That wasn't the job I was thinking of. But if the Harvesters try to board us again, or we encounter them somewhere where we can't use the Dreads or the Vanguards, I'll be a greater asset if I have the weapons that I'm familiar with."

"What's the matter with your hammer?" Asked Gascognue.

"The hammers fine." Said Tam as he turned towards her. "But it's not my usual weapon, and if you remember I nearly died that time. I'll do better with a sword." This last was said with quiet confidence.

"What makes you think they're be a next time." Asked BC.

"What makes you think they won't?" Tam retorted.

The subcommander frowned but did not dispute this. "Still" she said. "I had thought that you would be working on some more effective weapons. There is only so much you can do with a sword."

"You would be surprised what you can do with a sword." Responded Tam. "But you are right. There are some other weapons that I intended to make, but I started with the sword as it was going to take the longest."

"What kind of other weapons?" asked BC.

Tam took on a guarded expression. "I would rather show you once I've completed them. I'm still not sure if they will work"

BC looked about to protest this but was interrupted by Magno.

"It's all very well for you to be making weapons against our enemy. But what if they attack while you are busy doing this?"

Tam turned to Magno in surprise. "I thought you said that the Harvesters have never attacked while you were in transit between systems."

"They haven't. Yet. What is to prevent them from doing so?"

Tam smiled ruefully. "Nothing." Then he reached out a hand and pointed at an object in the ceiling.

"Hibiki reconnected that alarm before we started work. It's linked to the ships central network. If the ship goes on alert then we can be in the Vanguard bay and launching within five minutes."

Magno looked this over and then appeared satisfied. "You have thought this out haven't you?"

Tam smiled but made no other reply.

Magno shook her head with a smile of her own. "Very well, I'll look forward to seeing the results of your work. When do you expect you will be finished?"

Tam looked thoughtful, then turned away to stare at the forge. In the background Hibiki could be seen sitting on a bench. Slowly drinking a cup of water.

"Two weeks." Said Tam finally. "Two weeks at the longest." It may be sooner but it should be no later."

Magno looked surprised. "Why so long."

Tam waved his hand. "Craft takes time." He said simply.

"Alright." Said Magno. "Two weeks then. I can hardly wait to see what you'll bring out. In the meantime we'll leave you to your work." And so she motioned with her cane and the others began to file out.

It was then Magno noticed that Meia was leaving heavily on the doorway.

"Meia are you all right?"

Meia turned to look at her. "Fine Boss. It's just the heat."

Magno could tell from her gaze that that was not all, but she made no comment. That would keep for another time.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

As she walked back with the others Meia contemplated what she had experienced. For the last few weeks her link with Tam seemed to have faded. She had still been aware of his presence and he of hers but that was all. They had hardly seen each other since their encounter after the battle. Their duties had kept them apart. She had thought that the link was disappearing on its own, but the moment she had seen him in that room, seen him in that bizarre act Parfait had called 'forging' it had suddenly come back with full force.

As she walked she remembered what she had seen.

The start of the vision had been similar to what she had seem Tam doing. She saw a small room, lit only by the glow of the forge fire. She saw a man, his frame slightly stooped with age, but still powerful hammering the steel. The person whose eyes she was seeing through, which she realised must be Tam, was working the bellows.

Finally the man took a break and Meia saw the two of them step outside of the forge.

What she saw had been beautiful.

_The forge was built on a cliff face high on a mountain. Snow covered the ground. Far below she could see vast forests of dark green trees, partly covered with snow. Other mountains formed the boundaries of these forests. Grim grey sentinels. Overhead the sky was dark with storm clouds. As she watched the wind picked up. The clouds stared to broil and darken further, until thunder and lightening split the sky and the first hard cold droplets of rain began to fall._

_Through Tam's memories Meia experienced all of this. She felt the sting of the wind and rain. Felt the bitter cold of the mountains. But Tam did not complain. He knew that to do so would only earn him a punishment from his grandfather. So he turned to look at the old man who sat half naked ignoring the wind and rain. His scarred and craggy features making him seem like the mountains themselves. Then suddenly the old man spoke._

"_There is a legend. A very old one. Some say it dates back to the time when all humanity lived on but one world. They say the gods of the sky. The gods who command wind, thunder, rain and lightening made war upon the gods of the earth. The gods who commanded earth and fire. Who won that ancient war none can say, for it is notremembered. What is known is that it must have been terrible, for at the end they abandoned their greatest weapons on the battlefield. Those formed of the union of fire and earth. And so men first found steel."_

_Now the old man turned to face Tam and those eyes seemed to stare right through him and into his soul._

"_We have come far since then. The times have changed. The weapons have changed. We now have weapons that the old gods may well envy. We travel the stars. Bend worlds to our will, reshape matter itself into a form to please us. But still steel stays with us. Despite all that has happened, all that has changed we carry steel still. _

_Why is that Boy? Why in this age do we keep to the old ways? Why after centuries of good and faithful service do we still live in such a way that many others dismiss us as 'primitives'?" The question was barked out harshly._

_Meia remembered/felt Tam gulp and struggle to reply in a clear voice. _

'_To keep ourselves strong Grandfather. To keep ourselves true. To remember the riddle and the discipline of steel (1)."_

"_Yes." Said the old man with a long drawn out breath. "Remember this boy. Among men we are born like iron. Hard and strong. But we are also brittle, we will not bend but we can break. So like iron we must be beaten, hammered, tempered and forged if we are to become all that we can be, to become stronger. Do you know why we do this Tamorasp, son of my son? Why we must endure the forging?"_

_The old man went on without waiting for an answer. "Because we have accepted the duty and the honour or standing between the empire and its enemies. Now and always._

_It is a duty that will drive you hard, use you fierce and leave you with little but loss (2). But it must be done, the price must be paid." _

_As he spoke the old mans voice shook with the strength on his emotion. Suddenly he reached out and grabbed the young Tam's hand. "Know this boy, when you walk this path it will lead you into dark places. And when you travel them you will learn that you can trust to nothing. Nothing except your own skills and your own strengths. That is why you must know the discipline and the riddle of steel. Nothing else can you trust. Not men, not women, not machinery, not beasts and certainly not aliens or AI's."_

_Suddenly the old man went silent. He leaned forward staring intently into Tam's eyes. As he did so he took out a knife and carefully placed the naked blade into the palm of the hand he held, then with infinite care he closed the boys palm around the naked blade. As he did so he spoke. Barely more than a whisper _

"_This you can trust."_

Meia continued to walk. Those cryptic words still ringing in her mind.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Almost exactly two weeks later a crowd gathered in the Vanguard bay. It was a fairly small crowd, largely made up of all the crew who were off duty at that time and had nothing better to do. But it was a crowd nonetheless.

"I didn't realise that this was going to become a spectator event." Said BC to Magno as they viewed the crowd.

The Captain of the Pirates shrugged. "Word got around, the only thing that would have kept them out would be to order them away, and that would have caused unnecessary resentment. Besides they get little enough entertainment as it is."

"True. But I'm not sure what kind of entertainment it's going to be. Do you have any idea what kind of 'demonstration' it's going to be?" As she asked she turned to stare at the objects that littered the floor of the hangar.

There were a series of thick metal plates. Standing upright like doors. All set in a row.

There were a number of columns made out of dark metal standing haphazardly around the room. And finally there was a strange metal harness, on a stand at about chest height that stood at the end of the row of metal plates.

"Well why don't you ask him." Said Magno. "Looks like he's finally arrived."

Indeed. Tam and Hibiki had finally entered the Hanger. They stopped in surprise as they saw the crowd gathered before them. Then pressed on until they stood before Magno. As they approached she observed them. Hibiki was dressed in his usual orange jacket and baggy black pants. In his arms he held a small bundle.

Tam on the other hand looked different. He was dressed almost entirely in a skin suit made of dark brown sythleather. The heavy synthetic substance that looked like leather but was far hardier and stronger. It was used on Mejere to make protective clothing but few people wore it as standard dress. For one thing it was uncomfortable, for another it was so unstylish. But that was not the first thing that drew her attention.

Tam was also wearing armour. Thick plates of dark metal covered his shoulders. Segmented plates covered his chest and thighs. He wore solid metal bracers and greaves and his hands were covered by heavy segmented gauntlets. On his belt Magno could see the handle of a knife, but it was what was on his back that drew her attention the most.

A large cruciform hilt hung over his shoulder like a perched bird of prey. Magno could see the shape of a long thick sword blade behind his legs. The sword at his back was nearly as tall as he was and Tam was not a short man.

'What does he think he needs a sword like that for?' thought Magno. Then Tam was before her.

He saluted her, fist to chest in that curious manner he had.

"Captain." Then he turned to BC with a nod. "Subcommander." "I didn't expect am audience for our little demonstration."

Magno smiled. If Tam felt any unease at the prospect of performing before a group of the crew he hid it well.

"Well I wouldn't let it go to your head too much. It's just an indication of how bored everyone is getting." Then she quickly changed the subject. Pointing over his shoulder with her cane. "So is that the sword you've been working on?"

Tam smiled. "It is indeed." Then with a single quick motion he reached over his shoulder one handed and drew the sword with a flourish. There were a few gasps of shock as he did this and a few of the more paranoid security officers even started reaching for their weapons. But Tam merely brought the sword forward so that it rested in the palms of his hands and held it before Magno so that she could inspect it.

At first glance she was not impressed. The sword was very large, the blade almost four feet long and as wide as her palm. But it was very plain. The pommel was a simple ball of dull grey metal. The quillons and the crosspiece were simple and an even uglier dull black. And the grip looked to be made out of sandleather used for scouring metal (3). Finally she turned her attention to the blade and almost gasped in shock. She had thought the blade was made from more dull black metal but as she looked closer she could see that was not the case. Instead there were layers, ripples in the blade. Each layer was a difference colour. Some were black, others bright and silvery. Some had a copperish tint while others were tinted, blue, green and even red. The overall effect was strangely beautiful.

She looked up at Tam the silent question in her eyes. He appeared to read it there.

"The blade is New Damascus steel. It is made by folding together several different kinds of metals."

"Folding?" asked BC as she also inspected the blade. Tam nodded.

"That is what you saw me doing that day. I was folding the metals, wielding them together. That's what creates the ripple pattern that you can see on the blade."

"But why do that?" asked BC.

"Because it results in a blade that is both very flexible, very strong and very, very sharp. Nothing holds an edge like New Damascus steel."

As he spoke Magno ran a hand along the middle of the blade. Then she moved her finger closer to the edge and suddenly drew it back sharply. Tam and BC leaned over to see. There was a hair thin cut on the gloves that covered the finger. As they watched they could see a drop of blood start to form.

"Now" said Magno awkwardly as she started to suck the damaged finger. "That is sharp."

Tam looked shamefaced. "I'm sorry Captain I should have warned you."

"No harm done." She said around the finger in her mouth. "Now I believe that you have a challenge to face." She turned and pointed with her cane to indicate where parfait and a group of her techs were making their way toward them.

Parfait held a sword in her hands on the same way someone would hold a potentially dangerous reptile. But she presented it to Tam proudly.

"This is our sword for the challenge. Made with the best materials Mejere has to offer."

Tam looked it over. It was a nice sword. It had a blue lacquered scabbard. Its hilt was an elaborate cross guard of some shiny metal. The blade was quite thin, something between a rapier and a longsword. It was a beautiful blade and Tam was sure absolutely no use in the kind of fight he would have to face as he intended to show them.

"Ok who is going to use it for the challenge?"

Parfait looked at him blankly. "Well you are of course how else can we show which would serve you better. By the way what is the challenge?"

Tam couldn't argue with that so instead he moved to stand in the middle of the series of metal columns.

Turning he addressed the gathered audience. "As you can see I have set up a series of columns." He said waving his arm to indicate said columns.

"They are all of varying widths. For I intend to use them to test the effectiveness of the swords at cutting through armour.

There were a series of blank looks from the gathered crowd.

"How are you going to do that?" Someone called.

Tam smiled, and then he moved. In one smooth motion he drew the massive sword at his back and sliced one handed at the top of the nearest column. The massive blade sheared cleanly through the thick metal. The force of the blow sending the severed portion flying. But even before it hit the ground Tam was already moving, spinning on his feet with a dancer's elegance and the precision of a predator. As he moved to each of the columns he struck, at first single handed they as they became thicker with a two handed grip. Never once did he stop moving. Never was any motion wasted.

Standing in the crowd Hibiki grinned at the shocked expressions of the women around him. All of them would have heard of Tam's fighting skill by now. But few if any of them would ever have seen him in motion. And the reality was far more impressive than anything else they might have heard. But for all that Hibiki knew that it had been only a part of what Tam was capable of. Tam had not used the _Boost_

Tam finished his motion and smoothly slid that massive sword into the harness on his back. Then he moved towards Parfait. The chief engineer was so shocked by what she had just seen that she made no motion, except to jump back in shock after Tam drew the sword she carried, leaving her holding the empty scabbard.

Tam hefted the blade, feeling its weight and grip. The sword didn't feel right. The crossguard was too heavy for the light blade. But still better to put it to the acid test.

He stepped up to one of the untouched pillars. The thinnest one. Then taking a firm grip on the sword he checked his stance and swung with all his might. The blade connected with the column and shattered into a hundred pieces. The crowd gasped in shock. Tam stared down at the hilt and inch and a half of blade left in his hand. Then he turned and headed back to Parfait.

"I'm sorry" he said as he handed the hilt back to her. "I really didn't mean to do that."

The chief engineer gaped in shock, then stammered a reply.

"It's alright. Anyway you proved you point. That sword obviously wasn't suited for what you intend."

Tam nodded "Just one question Parfait. That blade, did you make it from pure steel?"

The engineer nodded. "As pure as we could get it. Why?"

Tam nodded as she confirmed his suspicion "Pure steel like that holds a wicked edge, but it's surprisingly brittle. It has a tendency to break under too much strain."

Tam left the chief engineer with a curious look on her face and made his way over to Magno.

"You proved your point with a remarkable lack of subtlety. Very mannish."

"Well I am a man." Replied Tam blandly.

"Hm. So what's the next part of your demonstration?"

"For the next part I need a volunteer."

There was a sudden surge as the crowd move back from where Tam was standing. Magno watched this with amusement.

"A volunteer to shoot me." The crowd seemed to shudder with shock at that statement. Then there was a tussle as two figures pushed themselves to the front. Barnette and Celeste. Tam looked at these two with a smile that was more than half a grimace.

The two stepped forward. Barnette in particular looked like she was about to shoot him on the spot. But a sharp movement from Magno stopped them.

"Wait! Tam what's all this about?"

Tam turned his arm and showed her his left vambrace. For the first time Magno noticed the glowing jewel embedded in it. "Pretty but what does it mean?"

"I constructed this vambrace to hold an energy shield. I want to show how it works."

Magno frowned. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"I've already tested it." Tam assured her.

"Very well then. Which one do you want to do the honours?" she said pointing at the two women.

Tam looked thoughtful. "Actually if Barnette has one of her projectile weapons with her it may as well be both."

Barnette indeed did. Tam moved until he was about 15 meters down the bay then stopped and turned. He pressed something on his vambrace and then turned to face the crowd, his left arm held out horizontally before him. "Ready!" he shouted.

Magno nodded to Celeste. The tech stepped forward, sighted down her laser ring and fired. A thin stream of red light shot straight towards Tam's chest. But at the last minute it flashed and flared against an oval shaped iridescent blue shield that snapped into place just in front of Tams outstretched arm.

Celeste and the crowd stared in shock. They knew about energy shields. Both the dreads and the Nirvana itself were equipped with them. But no one had ever been able to make one that was compact enough to be effectively used by an individual. Yet this man had apparently done so.

Suddenly Barnette stepped forward and stared firing a volley of shots. The sharp explosions of the projectile weapon she carried echoed loudly in the hanger.

The shield flared with each impact. And on the first shot Tam stepped back. Caught off guard by the force of the impact. But he had soon braced himself once again and the shoots had no further effect.

When Barnette had shot her clip, Tam bent and retrieved something, before moving over to the harness and attaching his vambrace to it. Then made his way back towards the crowd. He paused and passed something to Barnette on his way. Nine lead slugs, now crushed into almost flat ovoids by the force of the impact.

"Very impressive, said Magno as he made his way back towards them. "Do you have any other tricks to show us?"

"Just one. Hibiki."

Hibiki came forward and gave Tam one of the bundles he carried. Tam took it and slowly unwrapped it revealing a strange object which although it appeared to be some type of gun was otherwise unfamiliar to the pirates.

"And what does that do?" asked Magno

"It destroys thing." Replied Tam blandly. Then he lifted the weapon, pointed it down the line of steel plates he had set up and pressed the firing stud.

A searing bolt of energy surged from the gun and travelled down the line leaving destruction in its wake. Where as the pirates laser rings fired a thin beam almost to thin to be seen, this fired a thick oval projectile. It blew through the first plate leaving a smouldering watermelon sized hole. In the blink of an eye it continued down the line. It passed through all ten of the plates, each one made of two inch thick metal. Each time the hole left behind became smaller. But not by much. Finally it struck the energy shield which flared and sparked but absorbed the remaining force of the blast. The crowd stared in shock. A cannon from one of the Dreads may have been able to do more damage, but no hand weapon the pirates had could even come close.

Tam turned and held the weapon out to Magno, holding it in his palm.

"Imperial energy disrupter. Standard template. Standard issue."

Then the shit really hit the fan.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Magno sat in her ready room nursing a cup of tea as BC got ready to report on the results of the system scan they had just finished. After the last few days Magno was happy to be getting back to 'normal' problems.

The final part of Tam's demonstration had caused a near riot among the assembled crew. Between the crewmembers screaming that such a powerful weapon did not belong in the hands of a man, the technicians fighting over who would have access to the weapons to figure out how they worked and the enthusiasm of certain crew members who had wanted to try the weapons themselves. Magno realised that they were very lucky no one had been injured in the chaos that had followed.

Fortunately a couple of things had calmed the crowd down. The first had been Tam's willingness to hand over the 'disrupter' he had built to Magno. The second had been the realisation that powerful as it was the disrupter required at least 30 seconds to recharge between shots. In the fast moving style of combat that the pirates employed 30 seconds was a lifetime, so interest in the weapon dropped of markedly. The only one they had not been able to calm down was Parfait, who had demanded that Tam immediately show her how he had been able to create such items. But even she had deflated when Tam had showed her that the key was in the crystals that he had received, seemingly from the Plexis itself. Last Magno heard, Parfait had resorted to actually sitting in the plexis chamber, begging it to give her a crystal to experiment with.

Magno decided that she really did not want to know how that was going. She didn't know what was more disturbing, that her chief engineer had resorted to begging a giant energy producing crystal. Or that it might actually work.

She was broken out of her reverie when she realised that BC was speaking.

The view screen in front in front of her suddenly focused in on an aquamarine planet.

'This is an ocean planet." Reported the subcommander as she stood beside the view screen. "99 of its surface is covered with water. There is also an atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen in the main part. It satisfies the conditions to support human life."

As BC spoke the view screen continued to show the results of the detailed scans of the planets make up. Suddenly the view screen focused in further on the planets surface, revealing a construction of some kind. What looked like a series of rings spreading out from a central point.

"We can see an island." Continued BC. "The inhabitants appear to be humanoid. We also detected the signs of some colonisation remains under the sea."

Magno sat back and smiled. "Well then. Shall we go and say hi to our friends?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Nirvana moved steadily towards the planet. Taking up a position in high orbit.

On the bridge all attention was focused on the emerald/blue sphere before them.

"What a pretty planet" exclaimed one of the bridge crew.

Suddenly one of the consoles started beeping a warning.

"What is it?" asked BC.

Ezra looked up from her console. "Enemies detected on the opposite side of the planet!"

Almost as soon as she said this a view screen appeared, showing Bart in his piloting tank. "L..let's run away." Stammered the cowardly pilot.

The others ignored him. More than used to his outbursts by now.

"How many?" demanded BC.

'Ten or more units of cube types and… I can see a strange machine." Reported Ezra.

Suddenly the machine came into view as they came around the horizon of the planet.

"What the hell is that?" asked Magno

The machine was indeed strange. It resembled a giant red clove of garlic, with the bulbous end pointed at the planet below them. Cube units, the standard machines that they had seen used by the harvesters, clustered around it. They appeared to be making repairs or adjustments to the machine. However as the Nirvana neared they're attention suddenly shifted to the approaching ship and they broke off what they were doing to attack.

On the Nirvana Tam and Hibiki raced to the Vanguard hanger in response to the call to battle stations. Hibiki streaked ahead of the older man. After the past few weeks spent on the ship Hibiki was eager for some action. He had just reached the hangar deck when a blinding white light stopped him in his tracks.

Female laughter echoed in the hangar. "So, you're here." Came Jura's voice.

Squinting his eyes against the glare Hibiki could barely make out the shadowed outline of two female figures and two high powered lights. One of them must be Jura. Which meant that the other was likely to be Barnette.

"You get it. This time you must unite with Jura."

As he shielded his eyes Hibiki sighed. The blonde haired woman had been trying to get him to unite with her ever since she had seen him and Dita unite in that first battle. And since he had accidentally united with Meia she had only become more persistent with her requests. That was why Hibiki had been more than happy to help Tam forge his sword and weapons over the past two weeks. The work may have been hard and at times boring. But at least it had kept him away from both the Blonde and the irritating redheaded girl.

"Well that should do it right?" asked Jura in a quiet voice.

"Perfect" replied Barnette, who was capturing all of this on a hand held video camera.

Hibiki was just contemplating what to do when Tam reached the deck behind him and pulled him away towards the Vanguards. Completely ignoring Jura and Barnette.

"Come on little brother. No time to dawdle, there's work to do."

Jura stared after then incredulous that this man had spoilt her moment.

"W..wait I haven't finished yet! Grrr. In that case Barnette, quickly, second stage!"

"I know" replied Barnette with a long suffering sigh.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dread fighters streamed from their launch bays to intercept the incoming cubes. Hibiki's Golden Vanguard also streamed a head to intercept the enemy while

Tam's Black Vanguard hung back setting itself between the Nirvana and the enemy.

Its lower speed making it the obvious choice for close in defence.

Cube fighters started opening up with their main guns as Hibiki approached. The Vanguard ducked and spun, avoiding the worst of the fire. Then as Hibiki came within range he let loose with a vicious slash at a cube fighter. Which missed completely. Hibiki was still looking around in surprise when another cube fighter slammed into his Vanguard from above. The impact sending both of them spinning towards the planet below.

Hibiki finally managed to disengage from the cube, destroying it with a quick slash of his sword. Just in time to see Jura red dread fighter bearing down on him.

"So, you feel like uniting now?" asked Jura.

"Damn it!" said Hibiki. But he didn't get a chance to complete the sentence. Suddenly Ditas voice rang out over the comms.

"Mr Alien. Watch out!"

Hibiki spun his Vanguard, barely in time to avoid colliding with Dita's Dread.

"If you're going to unite with anyone do it with Dita, Ok" came the voice of the redhead.

"Damn you all" muttered Hibiki as he drove himself on another group of cubes. Determined to take out his frustrations on someone.

Unfortunately the cubes did not appear in the mood to oblige him.

The cubes ducked and weaved around his blows, allowing none of them to connect. While another cube fighter snuck up behind him and let fly with its guns.

"What the?" said Hibiki as he struggled to stabilise his Vanguard after the impacts. "When did these guy's learn to dodge?"

On the bridge of the Nirvana, BC and Magno were pondering the same thing.

"The enemy's movements appear to have gotten better since before." Said BC

'They're reading our techniques." Replied Magno. "What an irritating enemy."

Suddenly a voice over the comm's interrupted they're thoughts.

"Everybody listen up."

They looked up in surprise to see Jura's face on the vid screen.

"Today I will definitely show you my magnificent transformation!"

One of the bridge crew gave an exasperated sigh. "She's started that again."

Then Hibiki's face appeared on the view screen. "Hey, that's not your decision alone! What makes you think I'm going to unit with someone like you?"

Suddenly a series of explosions rocked the Nirvana's shields. In his tank Bart cried out in shock.

"Will you take this seriously. This is no time to play around."

At the same time Tam's voice cut over the comms. "Would you two quit your grandstanding and pay attention to the enemy!" He yelled as his Vanguard sliced another cube as it finished its strafing run.

Tam was trying to keep the cubes from attacking the Nirvana, but he was hampered by his Vanguards lack of speed and by the number of cubes that were getting through. Cubes that the others should be engaging instead of chatting on the comm net.

Hibiki attacked another cube. This time he used one of the tricks Tam had taught him. He swung wilding with the sword in his Vanguards left hand, then as the cube came in after the stroke he reached behind with his left hand, pulling out his second sword and slicing the cube in two. But Hibiki had no time to be satisfied at his first kill of the day. A sudden cry made him look up.

Dita's dread streaked past, a cube fighter in hot pursuit. Hibiki was about to go to her aid when suddenly Meia's voice came over the comm's/

'Don't look away!"

But it was too late. A trio of cube fighters had surrounded his Vanguard. Suddenly they slammed into him as one, knocking his swords from his hands. The whole mass of them started falling towards the planet below.

"Mr Alien!" yelled Dita as she saw him fall.

Dita and Meia's Dreads started heading down, trying to intercept Hibiki before he was burned up in re-entry. But fire from the other cube fighters forced them to break off.

"I can't get close to Mr Alien." Yelled Dita.

Suddenly a red blur shot through thru cube formation, heading for the falling Vanguard.

Below Hibiki's Vanguard was starting to glow red hot as it entered the atmosphere. Already one of the cube fighters had broken away and burnt up due to the friction of re-entry.

Above Jura's Dread streaked down towards him. The fighter's shields straining to hold against the forces applied against them. Inside the cockpit, Jura leant over her controls eagerly.

"Barnette. Are the cameras running?" she called out.

"What the kind of question is that at a time like this!" came Barnette incredulous voice.

As her Dread homed in on Hibiki's falling Vanguard Jura laughed softly to herself.

"Show me." She said. "The third stage has started."

And with that the two connected in a flash of blinding white light. But they did not stop falling. Instead a single blazing object hit the ocean below like a meteor. Causing a massive explosion of water upwards and sending a shockwave ripping for miles around.

"They seem to have crashed into the water, near the island city." Reported Ezra on the bridge.

"Jura! Hibiki! Are you ok? Respond!" called out BC.

A group of the harvester cube fighters swarmed over the site where the Vanguard and Dread had crash. The cubes seemed to look around almost curiously but there was no movement to be detected. The Waters from the impact subsided and were still.

Above in orbit the others from the Nirvana called out over the comms. Desperate to get a response, unwilling to believe that their companions were gone. But no answer came.

Then suddenly it happened.

In a sudden spray of water a massive ruby red shape surged out of the ocean. Its massive shape hovered over the ocean surface. Below it hovered a large disc. A ring of eight smaller discs's hovered in a ring above it.

On the bridge of the Nirvana, the others reacted to the new sight.

"Huh, a new one came out!" said Magno in surprise.

"But.. but that looks like." BC struggled for words.

One of the other bridge crewmembers was able to put it better. "A Crab?"

The others shock however was nothing next to Jura's disappointment.

……………………………………………………………………………………

"Noooooo!" she yelled as she stared at an external vid pick up. "This cant be Jura's!"

Hibiki in the mean time, more practically minded, was trying to figure out the bizarre new Vandreads controls.

Unlike the other Vandreads he and Jura were not sharing a single piloting seat. Instead the two of them had individual chairs in a circular control room. The chairs rotated around a circular console in the center of the room. Over the console hovered an orange holograph display.

In the meantime, the cube fighters took advantage of the pilot's confusion and started firing on the newly emerged Vandread.

'This is so uncool. This is the worst. Shit how am I supposed to move this?' thought Hibiki as he tried to work out the unfamiliar controls.

Jura's continued complaints suddenly cut through his thoughts. "Turn it back the way it was." Complained the Blonde pilot.

"Shut Up!" Yelled Hibiki "This isn't the time for that! Counterattack!"

Hibiki's yell surprised the blonde into silence. But only for a moment.

"NO" she yelled peevishly as she slammed both hands against the console in from of her.

This had the effect of doing something. However unintended.

Thrusters suddenly flared to life and the red Vandread suddenly shot away from its attackers over the ocean. The move was so sudden that a few of the cube fighters were swamped in its wash. The others quickly gave chase.

In the cockpit Hibiki was still trying to work out the controls.

"Shit" he muttered "which ones the weapon."

Far above, the Nirvana bridge crew watched they're progress.

"This is bad." Stated BC. "They're headed towards the island city."

"What about Meia, Dita and Tam?" asked Magno.

'They're busy fighting off the enemy's in orbit." Reported one of the bridge crew.

Magno Sighed in annoyance.

Meanwhile, the cube fighters continued they're attack on the red Vandread.

Hibiki swore as another impact rocked the hull. "Damn they're making a punching bag out of us."

"No! I don't want this anymore! Let me off!" Yelled Jura.

Hibiki looked at the blonde in surprise and annoyance. "Shut up cooperate properly!"

But Jura just shook her head from side to side as she continued protesting.

Suddenly Hibiki grasped one of the control stick on his chair.

"Huh what's this?"

Suddenly one of the Vandreads long grappling arms shot out smashing one of the attacking cube fighters.

Hibiki grinned in satisfaction. But it was short lived. He continued manipulating the arms trying to smash the attacking cubes. But it was like a man trying to swat flies. After the initial surprise strike the cubes avoided the clumsy attacks with ease and started pounding the Vandread once again.

Meanwhile Jura continued to pay attention to nothing except her own disappointment.

"What is this?" She yelled "This is so Uncool."

Hibiki unceremoniously shoved her out of the way to access the consol she had been sitting before. "Shut up!" he yelled. "If you have time to complain look for a weapon!"

But Jura only continued her trilabe "No! Let me off!"

Suddenly Hibiki spotted a button on the consol. "How about this one!" he yelled as he slammed his palm down on it.

Suddenly the disc that had been hovering below the Vandread shot up to hover over it. Rays of green energy shot out, linking the large disc to the eight smaller ones that now hovered below it. Suddenly each of the smaller discs spun to face outward and let loose a massive beam of energy. Eight massive beams carved furrows in the sea as they shot outward from the Vandread in a circular formation. All of the attacking cubes were caught in the blast and destroyed completely.

"Yes!" yelled Hibiki in victory. But even now Jura could not summon any enthusiasm for the ugly appearance her "magnificent transformation' had taken.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Above in space the dread teams mopped up the last of the remaining cube fighters.

Meia's image suddenly appeared on the bridge view screen. "Enemy cube types destroyed. But we can't seem to damage that strange machine."

"For the time being return back. Good Work." said Magno

"Understood." Said Meia as she signed off.

Meanwhile BC was staring at the strange machine that dominated the view screen,

"That might be the machine used for 'the harvest'."

"Well…" said Magno. "Shall we ask the people down there?"

After a few minutes a signal was picked up from the surface.

"Communication coming through!" reported Ezra.

'Put it on the main monitor." Replied Magno.

The main screen lit up to show the figure of a young woman. She was pale skinned with long Blonde hair. She was wearing a baggy blue dress that appeared to have some kind of mask attached over her chest.

"Nice to meet you." She said. "My name is Fanita. Welcome to the most beautiful planet in the universe. Anpatos."

"Anpatos?" asked Magno. "Is that the planets name?"

"Yes." Responded Fanita. "We call it that. We have waited long for you."

"Waited?" asked Magno in surprise.

"Yes. You are Muunya, right?" asked Fanita.

"Unfortunately we're not called Muunya." Responded Magno "Would it be ok to land at your city. There are several things I would like to ask you?"

Fanita looked shocked at Magno's statement that they were not Muunya, but she seemed to recover quickly.

"Because the timing of the ritual is close, I'm afraid that we can't offer you a big welcome."

"That's Ok." Responded Magno.

She then set about making preparations for the trip down. Perhaps the most surprising of these was her decision to leave Bart in charge of the ship as both she and BC would be heading down to the planet. The cowardly pilot would have probably protested this had she not cut him off with a final comment of "oh and no running away."

A final unexpected addition to the expedition was Tam, who turned up at the shuttle bay fully equipped with his weapons and armour asking to accompany them to the planet below. After a moments consideration Magno agreed, as BC had pointed out they had no idea what kind of ties these people had to the Harvesters and Tam had amply demonstrated that he could handle himself in a fight.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Oh the surface of the planet Hibiki jumped down from his Vanguard onto a sandy beach. They had finally managed to get they're machines separated once again. A fact for which both pilots were grateful. Now Hibiki stared out at the city around him. The buildings were all connected together and made of stone in a style someone in another age would have called Mediterranean. The city was dominated by a massive cylindrical tower that rose many times higher than the tallest buildings. As he watched he could see people setting up brightly coloured banners and carrying trays laden with food and drink. A few stopped to stare at him curiously.

'A festival?' though Hibiki as he stared around.

Looking back over his shoulder he called out to Jura. Asking if the other pilot wanted to take a look around. But Jura still devastated that her 'magnificent transformation' had not been everything she had hoped it would be, sat on top of her dread, unresponsive. Hibiki was about to call out again, when he noticed the shape of one of the Nirvana's shuttles descending towards the city. Immediately he set off for its landing site.

When the shuttle touched down Magno, BC and Tam were met by Fanita and two men wearing identical clothing except in orange. If the pirates found anything strange about men and women apparently existing together they gave no sign.

They greeted them and then started to follow them through the city. AS they walked Tam scanned the crowds around them. Alert for possible threats. But it was BC who spotted it. A strange curved symbol, repeated on banners all around the city.

'That symbol' she though. 'It seems familiar. But why?"

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Elsewhere something else was happening. It began subtly, barely noticed by anyone watching. Out in space, a second far larger Harvester ship sent a pulse of energy to the one that hung in orbit over Anpatos. On board that ship, instruments came on line and machinery long dormant came alive as it started to fulfil its intended function.

On the planet below waves began to form on the planet where before the oceans had been calm.

Suddenly four long spikes started to emerge from the top of the cylindrical tower that dominated the city. The inhabitants looked on with surprise and awe. They gradually, but in ever increasing numbers they began to abandon what they had been doing and make their way towards the tower. The time, long prophesised, was now at hand.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

The group from the Nirvana now stood within the vast cylindrical tower. Fanita and her two acolytes had led then here from the landing field. Along the way Hibiki had joined them. They stood now investigating their surroundings. The Tower turned out to be hollow and was almost as featureless inside as it was outside. Save for near the bottom which was dominated by strange carvings along the walls. The inside was dominated by a massive staircase that rose all the way to the top of the tower. A second tower within the tower itself.

"This is the Temple that leads to the holy path." Said Fanita.

"Well?" asked Magno. "Who is this Muunya that you are waiting for?"

"He is the one who brought our ancestors to this planet." Said Fanita, her head bowed in devotion. "We are grateful. Muunya is the founder of Anpatos"

"What is he coming to do?" asked BC

"Muunya needs us." Said Fanita. "We too are waiting for Muunya."

"Need? Need for what?" asked Hibiki.

"Muunya needs the spiral code." Said Fanita, the blank look on her face indication that she was repeating something by rote without really understanding what she was saying."

"Spiral code?" asked BC

"What the hell is that?" said Hibiki, blunt as ever.

Suddenly BC gasped as her eyes went wide in shock. Suddenly she new why that symbol was familiar and what the 'spiral code' was and the knowledge was chilling.

"The spinal cord! You're just a part of the harvest! This Muunya is coming to harvest your spinal cords!"

The others looked at her in shock. Then with an awful dawning comprehension.

"It all makes sense really." Said Magno quietly as the others watched wave after wave of the inhabitants flock within the temple. "Everyone we have seen here so far is in their youth. All of around the same age. Where are all the young, the old?"

"I do not know of what you speak." Said Fanita "When we are young we are placed here. In time we go to meet Muunya and then the next generation will come. The time of meeting Muunya is a time of blessing. There is no hesitation in this."

"Huh" grunted Magno. "You try to sound calm but aren't you getting goose bumps from fear under that pretty dress?"

"There is no fear." Said Fanita, but her voice was not quite as calm as it had been before. "Everything is for Muunya. That is the custom of Anpatos."

Magno narrowed here eyes. But before she could speak again a chime from the communicator interrupted her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Back on the ship Bart was quickly being driven insane. It seemed that ever pirate on the ship had a question for him. Will we be getting supplied with food and water? I want to change my locker. What's happening outside. When can we go down to the planet? And a thousand other queries had bombarded him.

He had just succeeded in shutting them down when something else came to his attention. The larger Harvester ship they had not noticed before was now within sensor range, and it was moving towards the smaller one in orbit of the planet.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"It…it's the enemy." Reported Bart in a shaky voice.

"How many?" asked BC

"One. It looks like a big container."

"It's the harvest ship." Said BC. "Boss" she yelled as she spun around.

"It seems like this Muunya, that you have been waiting for is finally here." Said Magno to Fanita.

Fanita and the acolytes around her reacted with expressions of delight.

"He's here!" said Fanita with a look of bliss. "At last the time has finally come."

All the while this had been happening people had been steadily coming into the temple and making their way up the staircase. Lately the flood of people had dropped off to a trickle. Suddenly s Hibiki jumped in surprise as a small wave of water swept over his feet.

"What the?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"They thought it out well." Said BC looking around. "If they do this everyone will gather in one place."

"Just like sheep to a slaughter." Said Tam speaking for the first time. 'But these people are even worse than sheep, they're practically bearing they're necks and begging for the cut. This phoney religion of theirs has them prepared to sacrifice themselves for this Muunya without a second thought!"

For the first time Fanita looked almost angry. "Stranger watch your words lest Muunya refuse to show you her favour and gather you too her with the rest of us."

"What!" said Magno angrily. "We refuse to be harvested by your legend!"

"Resisting against us cannot be forgiven." Sad Fanita, her face now serene again.

"Stop talking crap!" Yelled Hibiki "Don't you think all this is a little strange?"

"It is custom." Replied Fanita with that unflappable serenity."

Hibiki turned to Magno in exasperation. "Grandma we can't let them go through with this."

"He he." Magno laughed quietly. "Custom, legend, religion… aren't those convenient words for those who can't decide anything on their own?" she said as she locked gazes with Fanita.

"A custom is a custom." Responded the blonde haired women as she lifted the mask from her dress and settled it on her face. "Fate cannot change."

'There is no such thing as fate." Said Tam. "Our own choices decide our own destiny."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Up in space the Harvester ship continued to close on the planet. Bart at Meia's urging ordered the launch of the Dreads and placed them and the Nirvana in a defensive line between the Harvester ships and the planet.

If the Harvesters were to be stopped the defensive line would have to hold.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

'This is the right thing to do!" said the masked face of Fanita.

"Is that really so?" Countered Magno. "How can you say that. This seems to be the only large city on the planet. For someone who's just clinging to a tiny bit of land in a huge planet of water, what can you know? What have you come to understand in your youth!" spat Magno her words now passionate, almost angry.

"The most beautiful planet in the universe. What do you have to compare that against?"

"This is something that has been decided." Said Fanita, the mask giving her words an almost dead quality. "In the first place you people just came intruding in here and then you decided to insult our God. Your words are extremely rude!" This last was said with the first true emotion that they had heard from Fanita. As they watched they could see her arms were shaking with barely controlled emotion.

"God huh?" said Magno. "I guess there's no use in talking anymore. No choice."

But as Magno started to turn away she suddenly gave a cry of pain and collapsed to her knees.

The ones from the Nirvana immediately clustered around her in concern.

"Of all the times for this to happen. My back. I can't move" cried out Magno in pain.

"I refuse to get mixed up in this and die." Said the old lady through gritted teeth.

"Kid!" she yelled, looking up at Hibiki.

He started in surprise. "Grandma?" he asked confused. The comprehension dawned and he gave a cry and sprinted for the door.

He was only barely able to stop in time before the door slammed shut before him trapping him inside.

"What! What's going on?" yelled Magno.

"No one may leave once the ritual has started." Said Fanita whose voice now contained a trace of satisfaction. "Unworthy as you are you will now share our fate."

Magno glared at Fanita angrily, but before she could reply another voice interrupted her.

"We'll see about that." Tam moved away from Magno's side and towards the door.

He gently pushed aside Hibiki, who was futilely banging on the door with his fists.

"Step aside little brother, I'll deal with this."

Reaching out he drew, not the sword that hung on his back, but the long dagger in the red sheath at his waist. Magno noticed that the blade of the dagger was not straight, but oddly bent. As Magno watched he knelt down and gripped the dagger by the handle upside down in his right hand. His left he braced against the closed door.

Magno was about to ask what the hell he was doing, when suddenly she noticed the dagger glow with a faint blue sheen. In the same instant Tam plunged the dagger forward. It effortlessly sank to the hilt in the heavy stone door. With no obvious effort Tam dragged the dagger upwards, around and then down again. A carving an archway almost as large as the door had been. Once finished he stepped back spun on his heel and unleashed a massive kick against the door. The archway he had cut exploded outwards to land with a massive crash against the rocks outside.

All within, Hibiki, Magno and BC included stared at Tam in shock. Tam gave Hibiki a short salute with the dagger, now in his left hand.

"Get going little brother. I'll stay here and watch over the old lady."

Hibiki gave Tam a quick nod and then ran through the doorway. Heading for his Vanguard.

Magno looked over at Tam with a curious smile. "I suppose that you just forgot to tell me about that during you demonstration earlier?"

Tam smiled back. "A man has to have a few secrets. Besides aren't you glad now?"

Magno snorted in reply. Then turned back to look at Fanita. "We'll then how shall we kill the time?"

The look of hate from the other could be felt even through her mask.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hibiki ran through the now deserted city until he reached the area where his Vanguard and Jura's Dread was moored.

"Hey! We're launching." He yelled as he neared the Dread. But Jura did not respond.

"Hey, can't you hear me?"

"Shut up! Leave me alone." Yelled the Blonde pilot, still in a deep funk.

"How long are you gonna sulk." Yelled Hibiki as he jumped from one of the cities walkways onto the floating Dread. "This about the situation!"

'Don't wanna." Said Jura sulkily.

"Don't you get it?" yelled Hibiki as he stood over the kneeling pilot. "We're the only ones who can stop this thing now. Hey!" he yelled when there was still no response.

"It's not my business." Said Jura softly.

"Damn it." Said Hibiki angrily. He moved to grab her shoulder, to shake some sense into her. Then he stopped and looked at her. Then slowly gently he put is hand on her shoulder.

The blonde pilot flinched slightly, but did not shrug him off and slowly she turned to meet his eyes.

"Don't give up on it so easily." Said Hibiki. "Isn't it you precious partner."

Jura continued to stare at him. For a moment she seemed to consider what he had said. Then once again she turned away.

Hibiki dropped his hand and turned away with a sigh. Then an idea came to him.

"It's a shame really. Everyone would have been so surprised. Protecting an entire planet. Its something no one has ever done before."

Hibiki was about to turn away a final time when he heard Jura's voice.

"That's not bad."

Suddenly the blond stood up and turned around abruptly.

"Well it's decided then. Let's Unite! I won't forgive you if you slow me down!"

Hibiki stared at this seeming transformation. 'Geez women change their minds fast.'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Up in space a savage dogfight was taking place. Dread fighters repeatedly strafed the Harvester ships with cannons and missiles. But these had very little effect against the massively armoured ships.

Meanwhile groups of cube fighters continued to attack both the dread fighters and the Nirvana itself. The fighting was getting heavy. But for the moment the defensive line was holding. But only just.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile on the planet below a new drama started to unfold.

"Defilers. You have mocked our traditions, our sacred customs and the very divinity of Muunya itself. For these crimes I unleash the servants of Muunya to punish you!"

No sooner had Fanita finished speaking then a loud cracking sound could be heard in the chamber. The party from the Nirvana immediately spun around to face the source of the noise. One of the carvings on the walls of the chamber was collapsing. Long cracks appeared on its surface and widened before their eyes, suddenly with a loud crash and a shower of rock the carving gave way. Revealing a sight that was familiar but no less terrifying.

A Harvester robot stood there. It was of a type that they had never encountered before, but the technology that had formed it was unmistakable. It clumped forward on two broad legs. It had four sets of arms. Two massive grabbing arms and two smaller appendages equipped with cutting implements. It had a barrel chest and a wedge shaped head with a single red eye. That red eye focused on the group from the Nirvana and it started to move towards them.

"Now unbelievers." Cried out the voice of Fanita. "Witness the power of Muunya!"

Suddenly a shot rang out. The discharge of an energy weapon. A bolt of energy impacted the robot squarely in its barrel chest. The bolt vaporised more than half of the machines chest. The remains of the robot took a final step forward. They the light faded from its eye and it crashed to the ground.

All present turned to stare at Tam and the disrupter pistol he held in his right hand.

Tam turned to face Fanita.

"Not. Impressed." He stated calmly.

Fanita and her acolytes stared at him. Their shock apparent even behind the masks they wore. Finally Fanita shook herself.

"Your foul craft may have saved you once unbeliever. But it will not save you against the full force of Muunya's servants."

As she spoke more cracks could be heard. One by one more and more machines could be seen emerging from alcoves hidden in the walls. There had to be twenty of them at least.

Tam stood and calmly viewed the approaching machines. Then he turned to BC.

"Subcommander" he called out. When she glanced up at him he tossed her the energy disrupter. She caught it in her left hand.

"Take care of the Captain." Said Tam as he turned away and started to move towards the approaching machines.

"Tam. What are you going!" rang out Magno's voice.

Tam replied over his shoulder. "My job Captain. Fulfilling my oath."

And with that he reached over his shoulder and drew his sword with his right hand.

Bringing both hands together he saluted his enemies as he smiled a deaths head grin.

Then slowly, then faster and faster he closed the gap to his enemies. And on the planet of Anpatos, its temple suddenly rang with the sound of his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

Fanita and her acolytes stared at Tam in shock as he charged the oncoming mass of the machines.

"There is no way for him to win." She said to Magno. "You should call him to surrender. You should all surrender to Muunya's will."

"Heh." Laughed Magno. "Shows what you know. Let me tell you something girl. I have had countless near death experiences. During those times I cursed by incompetence. I cursed that I was unable to do anything for those who were going to die. At other times when I thought I was going to die, I remember how regretful I was. How I thought of all the things I still had left to do. Now I no longer think those thoughts. Do you know why? Because I remember how everyone, everyone who died never gave up until the end! They all tried to shine until the very end. I remember all those great people and because I know them, because I know the members of my crew. Because I know people like that man that is fighting over there I can't forgive naïve weaklings like you who leave your fates to others!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In orbit, Bart was struggling against his instincts. So far he had held the Nirvana firm in the center of the line. Despite all that was thrown at them. But now the enemy were intensifying their attack. More and more strikes were getting through. Slamming against the Nirvana's weakened shields.

'I mustn't run away'. He thought. 'I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away'

"You're in the way! MOVE IT!"

Bart barely had time to move the Nirvana sharply to the side as Hibiki and Jura's red Vandread shot up from the planet through the space the ship had just occupied.

"Leave the rest to me and go take a nap!" yelled Hibiki from his seat in the cockpit.

"You linger around and I'll wipe you out together." Chimed in Jura.

Suddenly the Vandread brought its forearm claws together. Emerald green power crackled over them and over the eight discs that hovered over the hull. Suddenly all eight of the disc's shot away. Each positioning itself at a specific point in orbit over the planet. As soon as all were in place they started to emit waves of emerald energy. The waves continued to build until the entire planet was enclosed in a glowing sphere of emerald energy.

In her piloting seat Jura was ecstatic. "It covered the entire planet! No one else can do that."

"It's too early to be happy." Yelled Hibiki as he pushed her away from the console.

Indeed. Even as he spoke the two parts of the Harvester ship connected with one another. The mouth of the cargo container suddenly opened wide and began to suck in anything before it. Including more than a few of the Harvesters own cube fighters.

In his control chair Hibiki smiled. 'I'll Let you eat as much as you want now." He yelled as he slammed his fist down on one of the controls.

Instantly a portion of the shield went down, allowing the Harvesters tractor beam to work on the planet below. But this did not target the city as the Harvesters had intended. Instead the large disc hovering before the Vandread redirected the beam down into the world's oceans.

Instantly a massive column of water shot up from the surface of the planet and into orbit. Pulled up by the massive power of the Harvester tractor beam the massive column of water was redirected straight into the gaping maw of the Harvester cargo ship. Millions of giga litres of water flew up from the planet like it was sucked by the straw of a thirsty god.

The Vandread shook with the strain of maintaining the field as the massive column of water sped past.

"It's going to break." Yelled Jura.

"Shut up and watch." Said Hibiki

The harvester ship was a truly massive construction. But there was a limit to how much it could hold. A good part of a planets ocean definitely exceeded that limit.

All over the ship hull plates and bulkhead burst outward as the ship began to literally burst at the seams. Finally, stressed beyond endurance it exploded. Leaving a massive asteroid of water behind it.

"We did it!' Yelled Jura and Hibiki in triumph.

"How reckless.' Thought Meia as she cruised past the red Vandread in her fighter.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted.

"Meia. Respond!" Meia started at BC's voice.

"Yes, Subcommander. Enemy ship is destroyed, we are mopping up the remainder of the.."

"Never mind that! Get a security team and a medical squad down to the planet right now! Tam's in trouble.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tam swung his sword single handed in an overhead swing. The keen edged blade of New Damascus steel sliced through the vulnerable joints of the robots upper arms. Severing them both in a shower of sparks. As the robot was still trying to stabilise itself after this loss, Tam dived forward thrusting with the Kukri in his left hand. The monofilament blade plunged it the heart of the machine severing its power core. Its power source cut, the robot sank to the ground, the light in its single scanner eye fading. Even as it fell, Tam withdrew his Kukri with a twist and spun away ready to face a new opponent. But there were none to be had.

The hulks of destroyed robots littered the floor of the temple. Some seemed partially intact. The small almost surgical marks on their chests, just over their power plants, the only evidence of damage.

Others were missing limbs, had been hacked apart or as was the case with several, almost blown in half. BC had proved herself to be very competent with the energy disrupter. It might only have been able to fire every 30 seconds. But the Subcommander had made each of those shots count.

As for Tam, he felt almost disappointed. The battel had almost been too easy. The machines looked impressive and probably would have been unstoppable to the unarmed inhabitants of the planet. But to someone with Tams skills they had been easy meat. His affinity with machines had once again served him well. Showing him just where to strike to cripple and destroy the robots. His natural speed and skill had done for the rest. HE had not even needed to use the Boost. The machines were slow and cumbersome, obviously not intended for real combat. So it had not been a very challenging fight. But despite that Tam felt a deep surge of satisfaction.

He flexed his hands around he grips of the sword and Kukri he held. Savouring the familiar weight and feel. The armour he wore, which many would have found restrictive, he found comforting. For the first time in a long time, he felt complete. He felt whole and he revealed in the familiar sensations and the familiar pains of bruised and aching muscles. There was some pain. But it was a familiar pain, a good pain. Proof that he was alive.

"Well!" Tam heard the voice of Magno ring out. "So much for the servants of your God."

Tam turned to the sound of the voice. Magno was slowly getting back to her feet. Her back apparently better. BC was at her side supporting her. His energy disrupter still held in her hand, covering the three figures before them.

The two acolytes still stood where they always had. Their features unreadable behind their masks. But Fanita had dropped to her knees. Her mask fell from her face to ring against the floor.

Suddenly she looked up at Magno her blue eyes blazing with hate.

"How.. how is this possible. How can you come here and violate our most sacred customs. Speak sacrilege in this most holy place. Destroy Muunya's servants. Defy Muunya himself! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?" she screamed.

Magno stared back at her impassively. "We are free." She said simply. "That gives us the right to choose our own fate, our own path. You were so set on your one path that you never even considered another. But freedom is the ability to make a choice. And we made ours." With that Magno turned and started to walk away. BC and Tam flanked her. They were almost at the door when they heard Fanita laughing softly behind them. They turned to look at her.

She stared at them with mad eyes.

"You say freedom is the ability to make a choice? Then here is mine!"

Then she started chanting, her voice high and shrill. The two acolytes behind her started their shock apparent even under the masks they wore.

The words that Fanita chanted were unfamiliar, but somehow Tam could understand them.

"_Deep beneath the wake._

_The Kraken sleepeth._

_Kraken, lord of the end times hear me now!"_

_The people have turned from the path of Muunya._

_They have forgotten the teachings of old._

_Rise up now and bring destruction upon them!_

_Let the final harvest begin!"_

"What is she saying?" asked BC

"I don't know." Said Magno. "But it can't be good"

"Its not." Confirmed Tam.

Magno looked at him questioningly, but any question she may have wanted to ask was cut short.

Suddenly the entire temple started to shake. Streams of dust and piles of loos stone rained down from the roof. Massive cracks appeared in the floor surrounding the great staircase in the center of the temple. The cracks grew wider and wider until something began to emerge from them. Shining metallic tentacles started to rise up from the cracks in the floor. Slowly, one or two at first, but then more and more arose until there were dozens stretching their way up the chamber. Some of them were tipped with grabbing arms, some with cutting blades. But all were made of the same shinning metal, and there seemed to be no end to their length. As they watched they tentacles started to reach out towards them.

"Back to the ship NOW!" Yelled Magno. The three of them hurried towards the door Tam had cut. Magno and BC quickly passed through it. Tam was almost at the door when something made him stop and turn around.

Gazing in horror he saw a group of tentacles reach out for a young girl, high on the staircase. Four with arms grasped her. One by each limb. She went into their embrace without a struggle, a joyous look on her face. Then as the other arms held her a cutting arm moved behind her. With one quick slash it sliced open the back of her robe. The girl's expression became worried. Then the tentacle started to cut into her back. She threw her head back and started to scream. But it was abruptly cut short. The tentacle made a series of quick cuts. Then another arm appeared and extracted the girl's spinal cord in one quick motion. This done the other tentacles released her. Allowing the now lifeless body to fall to the floor. Tam felt bile rise in his throat. He had memories of more horrifying scenes, but never ones with such mechanical detachment.

Tam looked around. Everywhere he looked the scene was being repeated. Tentacles were harvesting the spinal cords of the inhabitants before the horrified eyes of their fellows. But the inhabitants were no longer accepting the deadly embrace meekly. Instead, their eyes exposed to the horror of the truth, they tried to run. To avoid the tentacles. But there was nowhere to run. They were trapped on the stairway.

"Tam!" he turned to the sound of his name. Magno and BC stood outside the temple doorway, beckoning to him. He stood and watched them for a moment, then he turned his eyes to the grisly scene behind him and he knew what he had to do.

Turning back to Magno he slowly shook his head. Then he turned and drew his weapons, his pace quickening as he closed the distance to this new enemy and once more his battle cry rang out through the temple.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Tam? TAM!" Yelled BC as she watched Tam charge back into the temple. 'What does he think he's doing?" she yelled angrily.

"He's making his choice." Said Magno softly.

BC stared at her for a moment. "Boss we have to get you back to the ship!"

"And just leave him here?" asked Magno quietly. "That man. He's still a mystery in so many ways. He's strange, he's dangerous. Maybe it would be the safer option to just leave him here. But then again maybe it would not. Dangerous or not he's still a member of my crew." She mused to herself.

"BC!" the subcommander started at the command. "Contact Meia, tell her to get a security team down here. With as many heavy weapons as we have!"

"But Boss." Protested BC.

"I've made my decision BC." Said Magno, and the subcommander could see from the look in her eye that she would not be moved. So BC swallowed her objections and reached for the communicator at her belt.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

If Tam had felt fighting the robots before was not enough of a challenge, he was regretting those thoughts now. 'Be careful what you wish for' he reminded himself 'because you just mite get it.' Fighting the tentacles was unlike anything he had ever faced before. It was like fighting a whirlwind of blades while running through a forest at top speed. The grabbing arms and cutting blades came at him from all sides. He was having to use all of his senses, all of his training just to keep them at bay. What was worse the sheer number of tentacles impeded his progress. His sword could cut through two or even three tentacles easily. But not ten or a dozed at once. His Kukri could. The keen monofilament blade able to slice through almost anything. But more often that not he needed that blade to fend off attacks that were coming at him.

They were coming more and more frequently. The majority of the tentacles had abandoned the harvest of the inhabitants and focused their attention on him. It was a complement he could have done without.

He was boosting now, liquid lightening flowing through his veins. His movements faster, stronger and more precise than any normal mans could be. He was fully submerged in the dance. His mind and body at one with his blades. His only thoughts on the threats around him.

But it wasn't enough. Slowly but surely the tentacles wore him down. Small cuts appeared over his body, barely more than scratches. But each slowed him down if only slightly, and each bit of energy the boost took to heal his wounds left him that much less with which to fight.

Finally he succumbed. A failed slash, a fraction of a second too slow left his arm open to attach and it was quickly grabbed by a tentacle. Even as he struggled to break free other tentacles grabbed his other limbs. Holding him prone. He struggled with all his strength. But even his boost assisted muscles were insufficient to the task.

Finally he ceased struggling as exhaustion overcame him.

He lay there. Suspended in the grip of the tentacles. Every muscle in pain. He was soaked with sweat and with blood. He could feel the pain of half a hundred tiny cuts all over his body. He knew he had no more to give, that he was going to die.

'But at least.' He thought to himself. 'I die in the service of my duty."

"_NO!_"

The memory crashed into his mind like an exploding supernova.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

_He remembered lying where he had fallen on the dirt of the training field. His Practise sword lay two feet away where his grandfather had knocked it. His ribs ached from the vicious blow he had received. He was tired and hungry and he shivered in the icy cold rain._

"_What do you think that was boy? What do you think will happen to you if you do that when you face one of the empire's enemies. Do you think you can best serve the empire as an impressive corpse? Now again!" said the old man, gesturing sharply with his practise sword._

_From where he lay on the ground the younger Tam whispered through trembling teeth. "I can't"_

_The old man stared down incredulously. "What!"_

"_I can't grandfather. I'm too tired. I can't do this any more!" he yelled in anguish._

_With two quick steps the old man crossed the distance between them. With viper quick speed the reached down and grabbed the younger Tam's hair. Twisting it, forcing him to look up at him._

"_What is the fear of death?" he asked quietly._

'_Grandfather Oww" protested the young Tam._

"_WHAT IS THE FEAR OF DEATH." Yelled the old man as he shook Tams head angrily._

"_That we die our task incomplete." Said the young Tam through clenched teeth._

_At these words the old man released him and stepped back._

"_What is the glory of life?" he asked again quietly._

_The young Tam clutched his head, but he looked up and answered his Grandfather in a firm voice. "That we may die our work fulfilled."_

"_Yes." Said the old Man as he looked at him satisfied._

"_Remember this son of my son. Your life belongs to the empire. It is not your duty to sacrifice that life in service to the empire. It is to ensure the empires enemy's sacrifice they're lives in whatever foul cause they serve. _

_There will be times when you will be pushed to the breaking point. When you give everything you have until you feel you have nothing more. But it is at these times you must dig deep within yourself and find the strength to go on. Until you finish the task you have been set, you cannot claim that you have earned your rest._

_Pain, fear, exhaustion, these are all but excuses. Signs of cowardice._

_Remember. 'A coward dies a thousand deaths._

"_A brave man only one." They finished together._

"_Now." Said the old man. "Again!"_

_And slowly, painfully, the young Tam got to his feet. Picked up his sword. And turned to face his Grandfather once again._

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Tams eye's snapped open. His body still felt exhausted. His muscles still burned with fatigue. But a fire had been lit in his soul.

'NO.' he thought. 'No, I will not die like this. I am Tamorasp Naghanashar. Officer of the Empire. Soldier of a long line of Soldiers and I will not die until my task is complete!"

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back. One of the cutting arms had broken though his armour and was starting to cut into his back. The pain was white hot in his mind. He screamed and struggled. He put all his will, all his defiance into his resistance, struggling with every part of his being.

And then it happened.

Deep within his mind something clicked. A connection forged of his pain and his will. A door opened and a passage was shown and once again Tam found that deep reserve of power that dwelled deep, deep in his mind. Beyond the back brain, beyond the undermind he found it. It lay there like a massive river. Like an untapped weir. It welcomed him. He felt it acknowledge his presence. Knew that he had been here before and would be again. But for now he had a task to compete. So he gathered the power to him. As much as he felt he could hold and returned to his conscious mind.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the doorway of the temple Magno and BC stared in horror. Tam hung in the grip of the tentacles. Struggling but unable to break free. They watched as a bladed tentacle started to cut into his back.

BC suddenly raised the disrupter she held, pointing it at Tam.

"BC, what are you doing?' yelled Magno. "That thing isn't accurate enough. There's no way you can avoid hitting Tam!"

'I know." Said the subcommander quietly as she turned her head to look at Magno. "But its better than letting him be harvested."

Magno looked at her, torn with indecision. But shortly the decision was taken out of their hands.

Suddenly the air in the room felt heavy. Charged. Something was coming. They felt it as if it was the beating of giant wings. Suddenly it filled the temple. A force primal and powerful, and not to be denied.

Tams head suddenly snapped up. His eyes opened and they could see they glimmered with barely contained power. His head flew back and he screamed his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

A wave of energy radiated outwards from his body. The tentacles that held him disintegrated in the force of the storm. The tentacles destroyed Tam dropped towards the ground. He landed lightly, on the balls of his feet. His weapons ready in his hands and he started moving almost before he hit the ground.

He charged through the tentacles, making his way around the base of the giant staircase. The tentacles tried to stop him but they had no chance. He was faster, stronger more deadly even that when he had been in the boost.

His sword cut through massed ranks of tentacles as if they were wheat before a scythe. His Kukri flashed too fast for human eyes to follow. Severing any tentacles that got past the sword. And all the while he kept moving unrelenting and unstoppable.

Finally he seemed to reach his goal. A massive mosaic on the floor. It depicted the bowing shape of a human, and showed the spiral code (spinal cord) symbol rising up to meet Muunya. Now he ignored the tentacles. Quickly he reversed the sword in his left hand, holding it point down. Grasping it by the hilt in both hands he brought it over his head and then with a massive blow sent it plunging into the center of the mosaic. The sword sank to the hilt into the stone and Tam sank to his knees with it. He sat there hands still gripped around the swords hilt as the tentacles plunged towards him.

Magno and BC felt rather than saw it. Once again the air grew heavy and charged, like just before a storm. Once again Tam's head was thrown back as a battle cry burst from his lips. They felt rather than saw the massive burst of energy that he released. Felt it make the stones beneath their feet tremble. Felt it pass through the sword and through the rock below them. Down and down until in reached the secret heart of the machine buried deep underground, where it smashed it completely.

Almost instantly the tentacles dropped to the ground. Deprived of any form of control they became completely inert. Magno and BC saw the frightened survivors of the inhabitants crawl out of what ever cover they had found. Staring around in shock.

Quickly they hurried over to where Tam knelt. He was slowly getting to his feet.

He looked around at the destruction around him and started to smile. They with a jerk he pulled his sword from the ground and lifted both his blades high above his head.

That was how the security detail from the Nirvana found them. The terrified inhabitants and their Captain and Subcommander. Clustered around a tall figure in scarred black armour who held his weapons high above him, his head throw back in triumph as he screamed his victor to the skies.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The city was quietly returning to life. The inhabitants gathered together to bury their dead and take care of the living. They had agreed to supply the Nirvana with food. They found that they now had an excess of it. They had an excess of more than that.

Hibiki and Jura's novel form of attack had served to significantly reduce the levels of the oceans on the planet. Already miles and miles of slowly drying land could be seen around the city. And in the distance what looked like the wreck of an old colonisation ship, revealed after centuries underwater. These people now had far more material resources than they had had before. What they lacked was purpose.

Fanita and her two acolytes had died when the 'Kraken' attacked. Magno thought that there was some justice in that they had received the opportunity to serve Muunya as they had always wanted. But their deaths left the others without guidance or direction.

"What should we do now?" one of the new elders had asked Magno.

"Whatever you want to. You're free." She responded. "From now on you all decide whether you want to live or die."

"But what will we do without or God?" The woman had asked.

"A God is someone who never says anything to you. Nor does anything for you." Replied Magno. "More than anything it never expects anything in return. It just watches over you. Over foolish humans who are lost."

Magno looked over the ocean as she considered what she had said. Yes there were still a few adventurous souls left amongst the humans here. In time they would be able to find their own way.

BC called out to let her know that the shuttle was ready to lift off. She nodded absently and started making her way towards it. Then she stopped as she noticed another figure. Tam sat on the edge of one of the walkways staring out at the ocean.

He still wore his scarred and stained armour. Scabs and untreated cuts still crisscrossed his face and although his sword was on the harness at his back, he still held that bent knife, which he called a Kukri, in his hand.

Magno sighed. None of the crew had wanted to get near him after what they had seen in the temple. That small display had scarred them. If they had seen the whole thing they would be even more scarred. She thought. Magno was more than a little frightened herself. 'But' she remedied herself, 'even if the powers Tam seemed to have were scary, the man had shown himself to be loyal and trust worthy. He deserved the benefit of the doubt'.

Slowly she walked up to him. "Tam?" she called. "Its time to go."

He looked up and Magno was faintly shocked to see a contented smile on his face.

"Oh Captain." He said as he got to his feet. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."

"Not at all." Replied Magno. "You seem very happy about something?"

Tam smiled slightly. "I found a part of myself here. Something I did not know was missing. I feel more complete now. More at peace than I have before."

Magno smiled. "If you're at peace then isn't it time to put that away?" she asked as she pointed to the Kukri.

Tam looked down at the knife in his hands. "You're right." He said. But to Magno's surprise he did not immediately sheath the knife.

Instead he brought his right arm to his mouth and loosened the straps of a vambrace with his teeth. Then with the bare skin below it exposed he took the Kukri in his left hand and ran the blade over the exposed skin. Leaving a shallow cut that bled freely. That done he refastened the vambrace and wiped the blood from the Kukri against its red scabbard, before finally sheathing the knife.

Tam looked up to see Magno's shocked face.

"Its an old custom." He explained. "Once drawn one of these blades cannot be sheathed until they have drawn blood."

"Isn't that a little barbaric?' asked Magno.

Tam laughed. "Yes. But it also prevents us from drawing our blades without good reason. What can I say captain. I'm human like they are." He said gesturing at the people of the city around them.

"Why should I be any more immune to foolish customs?"

Magno just shook her head as she held out her hand for Tam to help her walk to the shuttle. 'She was not going to touch that one today' she decided. After all it had been a long day and all she wanted was a chance to rest. But it wasn't over yet.

Now she had to deal with Bart and the results of leaving him in charge.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

**End of Chapter.**

Next Chapter: The long awaited meeting between Tam and Rabat.

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WOO HOO. Another massive chapter. I think with this one I should finally crack the 100,000 word mark. I think congratulations are in order.

I feel I should apologise for how long it has taken me to finish this chapter. At least part of it is due to laziness. For a while I just could not get up the enthusiasm to continue my work. This is where I would like to send a big thank you to all my reviewers. Your comments and appreciation always reenergise me and make me want to continue my work.

The other reason for the delay is I have been fighting off a monster case of the flu. I have been attempting to write for the last few days but the flu has hampered my efforts. As a result if this chapter is not up to my usually standards then I apologise. Much of it was written while I was having difficulty thinking straight.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed that chapter. The next one Tams encounter with Rabat will hopefully be ready fairly soon. Based on reviews to date I will give out these spoilers, if you don't want to know don't read.

Rabat will be an evil character. Unlike in the TV series. He and Tam will fight and nether will escape unscathed. I will also be changing Rabat in a few ways. Mainly no Utan. As you may have noticed there is also no Puero in the story.

Well that's all for now.

As always all reviews and comments, even criticism are appreciated.

(1) Anyone care to guess where this comes from?

(2) Anyone care to guess where this paraphrase comes from?

(3) Sandleather, something I imagined for convenience. Imagine a cross between leather and sandpaper. The reason I made this is that I have hear that the very best material for a swords grip is shark leather, which feels a lot like sandpaper. Shark leather has a very rough texture which means that it provides a very good grip. Contrary to popular belief you do not want a smooth sword grip. Main reason being it is easier to lose your grip, and as you can imagine in the middle of a fight that's a bad thing.


	10. VanStalker Chapter 8: The Rat Bastard

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.**

**Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.**

**DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.**

Vanstalker Chapter 7: Meeting with a Rat Bastard

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Meia walked slowly down the main thoroughfare of the Vanguard hangar. She was not certain of the location of the one she was looking for. But judging by the frequent '_Clang_' of metal striking metal they were both nearby.

She followed the sound as it became louder and louder. Until, finally she traced it to its source. Tam and Hibiki were sparring in one of the empty bays. Meia frowned as she saw that the bay was cluttered with boxes, tools and other items that appeared to be nothing more than junk. She noted that as the two moved around the bay Hibiki constantly had to step back and look around. Trying to identify the debris to avoid stumbling over it. She also noted that the moment he looked away Tam stepped up his attacks. Forcing Hibiki to desperately parry and move away once more.

Meia watched them as they moved. Hibiki's actions were still fast and often desperate. But despite that he was clearly moving better. Whenever he was forced to retreat from Tam's attacks he always covered himself. Denying the older man an easy strike. He was also much faster than he had been. Where he had once been just a reckless young boy he now held the sparring stick as if he knew what to do with it. And although he was obviously being stretched just trying to avoid Tam's attacks, there was now a surety, a purpose to his movements that had not been there before.

At least it appeared there was, right up to the point that he placed a foot on a box only to have it slide out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor.

Hibiki groaned as he clutched at his head. That had hurt. But all thoughts about his aching skull were forgotten as he suddenly noticed the tip of Tam's sparring stick was pointed at the base of his throat.

Tam smiled down the length of the stick at him. "Once again you're dead little brother."

He said before removing the stick and offering a hand down to the prone form of Hibiki.

The younger man grasped the proffered hand and used it to haul himself back to his feet.

"I wouldn't be if I hadn't tripped over that stupid box. Why do we have to spar in here anyway Tam? It's full of junk!"

"I know." Tam responded. "Who do you think put it all here?"

Hibiki looked at the older man in shock. "You did? But why?"

Tam sighed and made a motion to indicate the sparring area with the stick he carried.

"Because if we only trained on an open deck where there were no obstructions then you would get used to fighting that way. But in real life, very rarely will you have such an ideal battleground. Remember the time we fought on the desert planet, or in the asteroid belt?"

Seeing Hibiki nod the older man continued.

"Do you remember how much harder it was to fight there, because you had to be conscious not only of the enemy around you but of the terrain itself?"

"Yeah" said Hibiki. "But what does that have to do with practising in an area that's full of junk?"

"Everything little brother. What I am trying to teach you is to always be aware of your surroundings. To be conscious of what is around you and what obstacles to avoid without having to constantly look around. It is a difficult skill to learn, but once you get used to it you will find that it will serve you well."

Hibiki gave an exasperated sigh. "But we've been practising this for weeks and I still don't feel like I am getting it. How long did it take you to learn this?"

"How long until my teacher thought I was fairly competent at it?" asked Tam

Hibiki nodded.

The older man rubbed his chin as he stared at the ceiling considering the question.

"Oh I would say about twenty years, give or take."

Hibiki stared at Tam incredulously. "Twenty years!"

Tam smiled back at him. "Yes, that was when he considered me competent at it. This is not an easy skill to learn little brother. The basic's of it you can learn in a day. But it takes a lifetime to truly master."

Tam then laughed at the look of anguish on Hibiki's face.

"Don't worry little brother. Although it may not feel like it, you are getting better at this."

Hibiki lifted his head to stare at him, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"You really think so?"

Tam smiled. "Definitely. You are moving much better, and you are learning to cover yourself as you retreat. You no longer leave yourself quite as open to attacks. I even have to work a bit harder to get through your defence. Even that last time you fell was more due to bad luck than anything else. You were trying to use that box to boost yourself out of the way. Its just bad luck you didn't realise that it was one of the empty ones."

Hibiki then looked at Tam with a frown. "But would you have made that mistake?"

Tam smiled back. "Maybe, maybe not after all, when one dances ..."

"…The outcome is never certain." Hibiki chorused the end of the quote.

Tam smiled again. Then his face settled into a frown. "But while your defence is getting better little brother your attacks still leave a lot to be desired."

"What to you mean?" cried Hibiki indignantly. "My attacks are my greatest strength. I've taken out masses of Harvesters with my attacks. Its what I do best!"

"Yes." Said Tam, his tone oozing sarcasm. "You are very good at charging straight at your enemy and putting everything you have into one great all or nothing strike. Hoping that that will be enough to overcome your foe."

Hibiki flushed at the sarcasm in Tam's voice. "It's worked so far." He replied doggedly.

Tam shook his head. "No little brother it hasn't. It has only worked when you have been united with one of the women's dreads, never when you have been on your own. And it has only worked because so far no enemy we have come up against has been able to withstand the power of one of the Vandread's."

Now Tam stared at Hibiki, his expression hard. "But that does not mean that will always be the case little brother. After every encounter our enemies become stronger and smarter. What will you do if one day one of them is able to withstand your all out attack? What will happen if you leave yourself vulnerable to a counter?"

Hibiki grimaced, but did not argue with Tam's statement.

Tam nodded his head in reply. "Good, now time to practise your attacks. Try to strike me, but I warn you little brother leave yourself open and I will take advantage of it. And I won't hold back."

Hibiki nodded and moved to pick up his sparring stick. As he did so Tam cleared an area, standing relaxed both hands leaning on his sparring stick.

Meanwhile Hibiki moved into at attack stance but stopped puzzled when he saw Tam standing there so casually. Tam noticed this and his eyes narrowed.

"What are you waiting for? Begin!"

Hibiki shrugged, then resumed his stance and charged.

"Yeaaaahhhh" he cried as he pounded down the deck towards Tam his sword held out in front of him like a lance. Tam stood unmoving and for a moment it seemed that Hibiki would strike him. Then just before the stick would have struck him, Tam spun out of the way. As he did so he extended his sparring stick, thrusting it between Hibiki's rapidly pounding legs. This succeeded in completely tangling the young mans legs, sending him sprawling face first to the deck.

Hibiki got up spluttering, his eyes angry. Tam merely stood where he had been. Once again standing seemingly relaxed. His face impassive.

"Again." He said.

Hibiki was happy to oblige him. This time Hibiki charged in with his sparring stick held high over his head in a two handed grip. As he approached Tam he brought it down in a massive vertical swing. Tam started to move sideways to avoid the blow, but as he did so Hibiki suddenly changed the direction of the swing so that it was coming down at an angle.

For a moment it seemed that Tam would be caught off guard, then he suddenly dropped prone to the ground. The swing passing harmlessly over his head. Before Hibiki could bring his stick back to defend Tam suddenly lunged forward with his blade, viper quick. Jabbing the stick into Hibiki's belly.

The young man reeled backwards and clutched his belly, breathing deeply at the pain. His eyes hurt and accusing looked up to stare at Tam's. But Tams face was once more completely impassive. Completely expressionless. He merely stood there and repeated. "Again." And hurt and growing angry. Hibiki complied.

Again. Again and again. The sparing match continued. To one looking it may almost have appeared to be a farce. But to the two engaged it was serious. Repeatedly Hibiki attacked Tam. Although he was sore, tired and aching with bruises he repeatedly put everything he had into the attacks. He tried different tactics. Coming in fast, coming in slow. Changing his attacks from one side to the other. He tried feinting. Attacking and then drawing back at the last second. Trying to draw Tam out, to force him to make a mistake.

None of it seemed to make the slightest bit of difference. Tam avoided Hibiki's attacks with an ease that was almost contemptuous. Sometimes at the last minute he would move to avoid Hibiki's attack and then make a strike of his own. Always where Hibiki was unprotected and always in a location that was painful.

The match between the two finally came to a head. Hibiki feeling goaded beyond all endurance made another mad dash at Tam. Again Tam moved out of the path of the strike. But this time Hibiki was ready. Expecting the riposte from Tam he fell prone to the ground. He felt the passage of Tam's stick as it passed over his head. From his place on the ground Hibiki grinned. He had him now.

From his place on the ground Hibiki took a two handed grip on the stick and slashed at Tam's legs. Tam was still over extended from his lunge. There would be no way for him to avoid the blow!

Unfortunately Hibiki was wrong. Seeing the swing coming Tam flexed his entire body. Shifting his weight from his legs to the stick that was now braced against the deck. With a massive heave he threw his body forwards, flipping over Hibiki's prone body to land behind him.

Hibiki watched this in disbelief. But he was quick to react. Twisting his body he surged upwards using the power in his legs to drive himself upwards. Directly at Tam's apparently unprotected back.

But at the last moment Tam spun around, his sparring stick held point down in his hand. With a quick movement Tam parried the blade. Deflecting its path and forcing it away from his body. Meanwhile the force of Hibiki's strike brought him right up to Tam. The youth strained with his whole body. Both hands tightly gripping the stick in his hands. He was so close just a few more millimetres and he would finally be able to score a touch against Tam.

But Hibiki could not move his stick closer. Tam's parry had him trapped. So focused was Hibiki on trying to get through the parry that he failed to notice that Tam was using only one hand to hold him off. So it came as a complete surprise when Tam's other hand swung in with a roundhouse punch that connected precisely with Hibiki's jaw. Knocking him flying.

Hibiki crashed down to the deck. Slamming into some of the scattered debris. His stick went flying from his hands. Stunned the youth shook himself for a few minutes before trying to get up. There was a metallic taste in his mouth. He touched his lip and his hand came away wet and red. He had cut his lip with his teeth during the fall. Angrily Hibiki looked up at Tam.

Once again the older man simply stood there his face expressionless. His face betrayed no concern or sympathy. He merely repeated the now hated words.

"Again."

For Hibiki this was the last straw.

"NO. Not bloody again! What the hell did you hit me for that time?" asked the youth angrily as he wiped blood from his mouth.

"I told you that I was not going to hold back on you Hibiki." Said Tam tonelessly

"That doesn't mean that you had to hit me that hard. And what's with that anyway? I thought we were fighting with swords. What's the deal with suddenly using your fists?"

"I am trying to teach you to fight Hibiki. That means using any means at your disposal. Not just those you are most aware of at the time."

"Well you could have warned me!" yelled Hibiki angrily. "And if you're serious about teaching me why don't you show me some of your techniques instead of just telling me to attack you and then hitting me?"

"That is the way I teach." Said Tam

"Huh?"

"That is the way I teach because that is the way I learned. The way of body learning. Through pain I show you what you are doing wrong. To avoid the pain you force yourself to learn the correct moves and the correct counters to the attacks I make."

Hibiki looked at Tam in disbelief. "You mean that all the times you hit me, you were trying to teach me something?"

Tam nodded. "And it worked. After only a few strikes you no longer made the same mistakes. We were making progress before you stopped." Said Tam pointedly.

Hibiki looked down considering. "So can I expect much more of this before this training of yours is finished?"

Tam smiled and it was not a reassuring sight. "Oh little brother, we have barely even begun.

Hibiki seemed to consider this for a moment. Then he exploded to his feet and started stalking off down the hangar bay. As he walked he shouted angrily.

"Then you can take this training of yours and stuff it!"

"Hibiki!" Tam called after him.

But the youth refused to listen. "NO." Yelled Hibiki. "I'm sick of this. You've taught me enough. As long as I have my partner I'll be able to deal with anything else. I don't need you and you're stupid training."

And with that he disappeared around a corridor and left the bay.

Tam stood watching where he had gone for a second. Then he gradually let the sparring stick he was holding fall to the floor. He was about to leave the bay when a voice from above stopped him.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

"Don't you think you went a little hard on him?"

Tam looked up. Meia was standing on one of the antigrav platforms the engineers used to service the Vanguards. As he watched the platform descended and Meia jumped lightly to the deck before him.

"I am going much easier on him then the harvesters will." Responded Tam.

"That may be true." Replied Meia. "But even in the Dreads we allow a pilot to get a feel for the basic's before we expect them to learn to fly with the squadron."

"That's when you have the luxury of time to train your pilots before you send them into battle." Retorted Tam. "Here we don't have that luxury. Hibiki has been fighting with you ever since the ships merged and the Plexis sent your ships into the middle of nowhere. Since then he's stayed alive through a combination of luck and stubbornness coupled with the power of that partner of his. But that won't keep him alive much longer. Not the way that the enemy has been learning. I have to try to teach him how to survive before it's too late."

"How are you going to do that if you keep driving him away!" asked Meia cuttingly.

Tam turned to look at her with shock.

"What do you mean?"

Meia advanced on him. "You know what I mean Tam. You've been trying to drive Hibiki away just like you have been trying to drive away the rest of the crew."

Tam shook his head in denial. "I don't know what you mean. I've been training him the same way my grandfather taught me."

"Yes." Replied Meia. "I shared your memories of that. I know how your grandfather taught you. But I also know that that isn't the only training you received. You don't need to be that harsh. You don't need to drive him away like the rest of the crew."

At this Tam looked up at her his eyes angry. "It wasn't me who drove away the rest of the crew."

Meia flinched at his tone but did not disagree with the statement. After the battle on the water planet many of the crew had started avoiding Tam. Hustling away when he approached or shifting away when he sat down in the register. By now word had spread throughout the ship of the damage that Tam had done to the harvester machines in the temple during the battle on the water planet. The women knew that Tam was capable of destroying the machines physically with the primitive weapons that he used. But always before he had been badly wounded in the exchange. Proof that if he was not quite normal he was at least vulnerable. Until the battle on Antipatos.

There the members of the security detail had seen him standing over the wreck of the harvester Kraken. He had been tired, dirty and bloody from the wounds that he had taken. But none of them remembered that. Instead they remembered the savage primal figure, his face lit with unholy joy, screaming with victory as he stood over the destroyed machine. And they had all been terrified.

Just from seeing him there like that. They had suddenly known, suddenly realised that this man was powerful and dangerous and that they had no real control over him.

The doctor, Duero, was known and to an extent trusted by the women. They knew they could rely on him to heal them, and anyway Paiway was there to keep an eye on him.

The navigator Bart was a loudmouthed braggart, who was also a coward. Although then needed him to pilot the ship the women also felt that they could control him if need be.

Hibiki the kid, was a fighter, there was no denying. But he needed his Vanguard to fight. And it was only by joining his Vanguard to one of the dreads that he became truly dangerous.

But Tam, Tam was always dangerous. The man had demonstrated that he was deadly with any kind of weapon. What's more he had strange and unexplainable powers which unlike the others were not reliant on machinery to make them work. Several times he had helped save the ship. Each time demonstrating some strange and unexplainable skills. What's more his memories still had not fully returned. That was what worried the women the most. What new powers would he display next, and what would happen if his memories returned and he decided that the female crew were the enemy. He was after all a man.

So the female members of the crew had started avoiding Tam. It didn't take time long to realise what they were doing or to start to resent it.

"I'll ask the Boss to speak with the rest of the crew. She'll make them understand that they have no reason to be worried. They shouldn't treat you like this. Not after you have demonstrated your willingness to fight with us"

Tam smiled sadly. "Thanks Meia, but I wouldn't if I were you. You will only make them more nervous. I understand why they are so anxious, I may not like it but I understand it."

At this statement Meia looked at him questioningly.

Tam sighed before elaborating. "It reminds me of how others looked at me. In the empire, during the civil war."

Tam looked down and a grimace of pain crossed his face as he remembered.

"Often after we retook a world from the usurpers forces, the population of the world would treat us in the same way. At first we didn't understand why. Didn't understand why they looked at us with the same hate and fear that they had looked at the Durendal's filth. Then gradually we began to understand. The Durendal's forces were largely composed of local police and militia as well as forces from the church and the other factions that had joined Finn. At first they had seemed just like another police force. They said that they were there to help the people. To maintain order. To guarantee the stability of the Empire during these troubled times. It was only later when people began to disappear. When the soldiers stared to commit atrocities and kill or lock up anyone that tried to protest that the people realised what monsters they really were."

"And then we arrived. The fleet. Come to rid them from the Durendal's tyranny. Of course to do that we had to defeat Finn's followers and that meant fighting in the streets, collateral damage and the deaths of civilians whose only fault was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So was it any surprise then that they did not trust us?

I couldn't blame them once I worked it out. We thought of ourselves as the ones in the right, the good guys, the side of justice. But to them we were just the same, men with guns, wolves among sheep. But to be fair they had reason to fear. They had already suffered terrible atrocities at the hands of people who were supposed to protect them. Why should they have believed any better of us when we came to fight those we said had usurped the throne?

That's the problem with a civil war. It they are lucky if they are lucky the two sides have a clear idea of who they are and what they are fighting for. But to the people caught in the middle, we're all the same." Tam finished sadly.

Meia stood shocked for a moment. Then a thought came to her.

"These memories, you didn't have them before?"

"No." replied Tam

"But I haven't experienced any of this. Haven't seen any of what you describe."

Tam smiled ruefully. "That's because I didn't want you to. I've been working to limit the bond we share."

"Why?" asked Meia shocked and a little hurt.

Tam turned to her surprised. "I thought you would be grateful, I thought you would value having your privacy back. Besides some of my memories I did not want you to share."

"Do you think that's fair Tam? After all you have seen most of my life, I have very few secrets that you don't know!" Asked Meia scathingly, now for some reason feeling angry that this man had tried to shut down the bond they shared without consulting her.

Tam looked at her surprised at the anger in her tone. "That's partly why I did it. You have enough burdens to carry. I don't want to add mine to your's. Besides I have seen things no one else should have to." The last was said almost in a whisper, which instantly intrigued Meia but before she could ask what he had meant Tam spoke again.

"Lastly, I thought it might be better if I the bond died down. There is not telling how the crew would react if they heard about it. Especially considering what happened over Christmas."

Meia grimaced as she remembered. Although she had not been there she had heard about it as had the whole crew. The female crew had prepared a massive celebration on the ship to mark the Christmas one of the favourite holidays on Mejere. The men had been intrigued by this having no similar holiday of their own on Tarak.

Dita had set out to inform the men and along the way had somehow found one of the old storage rooms dating back to the colonisation era. But the big shock had come when Dita had played a tape from that room over the ship wide network. The ship had showed a family sharing a Christmas dinner. But had what had shocked the crew of the Nirvana was that the family had apparently been made up of both men and women living together peacefully (1).

This had been a major bombshell to the men and the women of the crew. Although they had learned to work together and to an extent to live with each other both sexes believe this to be a temporary and unnatural situation. They had never in their wildest dreams thought that it would be natural for men and women to live together.

Most women had rejected the image out of hand and had reverted to their old ways of dealing with men to put the image out of their minds. Others may have found the image fascinating or even attractive. But they wisely kept their mouths shut and their thoughts to themselves. The net effect had been that most of the members of the crew had either reverted to their old behaviour or had become even more anti-male as a result of the tape. Neither of which was good news for the male members of the crew particularly for Tam as he was arguably the most dangerous of the men and the least useful (2).

Then Meia remembered something else about the Christmas celebration. Something that she had been meaning to ask Tam about.

"Tam over the Christmas, You disappeared for several hours no one could find you."

Tam looked contrite "Yes I'm sorry about that I should have been there to help you and Hibiki with that Harvester machine you discovered in the comet."

Meia shook her head. "That's not what I'm asking about. During the celebrations you disappeared. You didn't show up until much later and ever since then you have been distancing yourself from the rest of the crew, even from the men."

Tam turned away from her. Through what remained of their bond Meia could tell that he did not want to talk about this. But Meia could also feel his pain through the bond. The bond was faint now. So faint that she could barely even feel his presence anymore. For her to be able to feel his pain despite that meant that he must be suffering greatly.

"Tam talk to me. If it is something about your past you know you can trust me to keep your secrets as you kept mine. You helped ease my pain, let me repay that now."

Tam turned to face her. His face grim. Meia could see that he was using all of his control to conceal his emotions. She tried again.

"Tam I know something happened to you over the Christmas. Some new event or memory. Please tell me."

Finally he spoke, his voice low and hoarse.

"I do not like the Christmas. Not anymore. It requires a duty that I would rather not remember."

Meia stepped forward. "What duty."

"To hold a vigil."

Meia blinked at the unfamiliar word. But continued with her questions.

"A vigil for who?"

"For my family." Then he looked up at her.

Meia almost stepped back in shock. There was pain in his eyes. Naked anguish. A sense of grief of loneliness so great that it was soul wrenching. It was a pain that she knew and recognised. A pain that she had finally dealt with, with Tam and Magno's help. No she prepared to step forward to offer the same support, that this man, who she barely dared to consider a friend, had once given to her.

Unfortunately it was at that time that BC face appeared on a Comm. screen.

"Meia, Tam there you are. The boss wants you in the conference room. We've picked up something on the long range scans and we want you to check it out."

"Huh.. Yes Subcommander, we'll proceed there directly."

BC nodded then frowned. "Is everything alright?"

Meia and Tam put on their professional faces. "Perfectly Subcommander, we will se you up there soon."

BC nodded and cut the connection.

Tam looked at Meia his face once again expressionless. "Duty calls" he said. Then turned away, heading for the elevators to the bridge deck.

'Yes' thought Meia. 'Duty calls for now, but later I am going to find you. And we are going to finish this talk, whether you like it or not.'

………………………………………………………………………………………

Later the Nirvana hung motionless in space. In the distance could be seen a massive structure. A huge apparently man made space habitat sat at its centre. Massive girders linked it to a large number of asteroids that occupied the space around it.

Close up four dread fighters could be seen docked to the stations central core.

The peace of space was soon disturbed by the radio signals of their pilots.

"Hey! Did you find anything yet? Remember the pretty clothes are Jura's ok?"

……………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge of the Nirvana Magno and BC considered the shape of the station before them.

"So this is a 'Mission'." Said BC. "This is the first time I've seen one."

"It seems like they flourished during the colonisation era as relay stations." Said Magno. "But now they're just abandoned in these corners. It appears to be deserted."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

On board the mission the away team investigated the remains for anything that could be salvaged.

"It seems like there's quite a bit of stuff we can use here." Said Barnette as she looked around curiously. "I wonder where they kept the food?"

Jura followed her with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. This place looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years! She had to be careful lest she let herself get dirty.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile at the central core Meia, Hibiki and Dita were investigating the stations power plant.

"I wonder how the boss knew about an old space station like this?" asked Dita

"It's not a space station, it's a mission. Didn't you listen to the briefing?" asked Hibiki in annoyance.

"Stop chatting. We should get back to work." Said Meia

"Huh, if there's work to be done then why isn't Tam here helping us." complained Hibiki.

"He has his own job to do." Replied Meia. "Speaking of which. Tam. Report. Have you found anything on the outer ring?"

After a moment a voice came back. "Negative. I have only gone through the first quarter, but so far the outer ring is completely clean of ships. There isn't even a docking shuttle parked here. There is one thing though."

"Yes?" queried Meia.

"A few of the airlocks look like they were closed with an emergency release. Looks like the people who left here did so in a great hurry."

"Harvesters?"

"Unknown. No sign of them yet, or of any kind of a struggle, but I thought you should know."

"Affirmative. Let me know if you see anything else."

"Confirmed. Continuing with sweep."

Meia sighed. She could not fault Tam's work or his reports. It was just that he was behaving the way he had when he had first come on the ship. Calm and emotionless. Like a machine.

Suddenly she snorted. To think at one time she would have considered that the ideal way for everyone to behave, and now she was complaining about it.

Her reverie was interrupted by Hibiki's voice.

"Hey now that you mention it. This work that we're doing. Isn't it more like looting?"

Meia sighed in annoyance. "We're just making good use of resources that were left behind."

"Sounds like looting to me." Muttered Hibiki.

"Besides." Said Dita. "Everyone that was here left long ago. It's not like there's anyone around to complain."

Unfortunately the red head may have spoken too soon.

"Meia!" Tam's voice suddenly came over the comm. Net. "I'm on level 3 starboard side, halfway round the ring. There's a ship docked here!"

Meia was instantly alert. "Can you identify it? Is it an enemy?"

"Negative. It looks human but I've never seen the type before. But whatever it is it doesn't look like its been here long. Be careful, you may have company in there."

"Acknowledged. Barnette, Jura. Look sharp. There may be others on board the station."

"Acknowledged leader. We're heading back your way now."

Meia nodded in satisfaction. Then turned to tell Hibiki to hurry up. To her surprise he wasn't there.

"Dita. Where did Hibiki go?"

"Mr Alien went back to his partner. He said that he wanted to make sure no one took it."

Meia squeezed her eyes in frustration. 'Great. Just great.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hibiki ran down the corridors of the deserted mission, one hand grasping the bag of parts that he had 'salvaged'. As soon as he heard that there were others on board the station he knew that he had to make sure that his partner was safe. Nothing else mattered.

The thought so completely occupied his mind that he failed to notice the obstruction ahead of him until he ran full tilt into it.

The impact knocked him flat on his back and caused his vision to momentarily black out. He was therefore somewhat confused when he next heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Hey kid, didn't anyone ever tell you to watch where you're going?"

At this Hibiki stared up in shock. Before him stood a tall figure. It was dressed in dark trousers and heavy boots. It wore a thickly padded jacket of orange grey and yellow. The figure appeared to have two diagonally stripped tattoos on the left side of his face. But most remarkable was that its right eye appeared to be covered by a red crystal lens. But the fact that came to Hibiki's attention first was…

"You're .. a man?" he exclaimed in shock. Then with rising joy. "You're a man right? Did you come to rescue us?" at this he moved forward to greet the newcomer. The action was apparently not appreciated.

As soon as Hibiki started to move forward the newcomers eyes narrowed. In a lightening fast motion he withdrew a large twin barrelled pistol from a holster at his side and pointed it directly at Hibiki's head. Hibiki instantly froze in shock.

"What.. what are you doing?" he stuttered.

The newcomer gazed at him impassively, then his gaze suddenly shifted as he sensed movement behind him. In a single swift motion he ducked and dived forward. Moving behind Hibiki. As he did so he grabbed one of the young man's arms and twisted it behind his back, using the exquisitely painful hold to keep him prone as he used Hibiki's body as a shield.

Through tears of pain. Hibiki could see Meia in front of him. Arm outstretched. Her laser ring held pointed at the newcomer.

"A woman huh." Said the newcomer as he crouched behind Hibiki.

"So what?" said Meia.

The newcomer grinned. "Looks like we have a standoff." The grin faded as the sound of metal sliding on metal echoed through the mission corridor.

Slowly the newcomer got to his feet and released his grip on Hibiki. Who jumped away and immediately started massaging his sore arm.

A moment later the newcomer reversed his gun and presented it to Meia, butt first.

"I take it back." He said. "It looks like the situation is bad." The newcomer carefully raised his hands as Jura kept the point of her sword over the centre of his back.

"What's this." Said the Blonde pilot. "Another man?"

Barnette reached out and grabbed the stranger's weapon. At the same time bringing up her own to cover him. "Seems like it." She said.

"Are you bandits?" asked the newcomer.

"We prefer 'Pirates'" corrected Meia.

"Ooh, the lady there too?" said the newcomer, nodding his head at Hibiki.

"Hey" he yelled indignantly. "I'm a man!"

The newcomer looked surprised and then started laughing. "This is good!"

"What's so funny?" demanded Hibiki.

"I am sorry." Said the newcomer, tears in his eyes. "Its just that you looked so cute I thought you were a girl."

The others looked at one another trying to make sense of this. That was all the distraction the man needed. In a single quick motion he spun on the spot. As he did so he grabbed the handle of the parts bag dropped by Hibiki, and using his momentum hurled it directly at her head. Meia had no time to respond other than to duck before the heavy bag crashed into her skull. In the instant that he was uncovered the newcomer ducked down a side passage and ran.

The others prepared to follow him. By just as they did so that station was suddenly rocked by shockwaves.

"What the? What the hells that?" asked Hibiki.

"Meia! Hibiki! Are you there?" Tam's voice suddenly came over the comm. Link.

"Tam we found a man but he got away, we're going to.." Tam suddenly cut Hibiki off.

"No time for that. Those shockwaves you're feeling. They're harvesters! There's hundreds of the damn things hidden in the rocks surrounding the asteroids. They're flying out like a swarm of pissed off hornets! Get back to the ships right now!

"You heard him." Said Meia. Everyone back to your ships immediately!"

………………………………………………………………………………………..

In space stillness was now replaced with frantic movement. From where they had been buried deep in the asteroids massive cargo containers burst forth to hang in orbit around the mission. As soon as they were in place they started spewing hordes of Cube fighters. The familiar form of the Harvesters. The fighters formed themselves into groups and started to swarm towards the Nirvana.

On the pirate ships bridge BC began to yell orders bringing the crew to battle stations. On board the ship bulk head doors sealed, the Plexis pulsed with energy as the defence screen was initialised and pilots raced to their dreads.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

In the mission Meia and the others raced to get to their Dreads and Vanguards.

"What the hell happened?" Yelled Hibiki as he ran.

"Our kind doesn't seem to be welcome here." Replied Meia

Suddenly they reached the main intersection where the dreads were docked. But as soon as the doors opened they were forced to stop in shock. A phalanx of dull green harvester robots stood between them and the Dreads. As they watched the robots swivelled their optical lenses to stare at them and started to move forwards.

The other froze unsure of what to do. Without the Dreads they could bot get off the station. But there was no way they could get through those robots on their own.

Fortunately they were not alone. As the robots were advancing a massive beam of energy suddenly ripped through their formation. While the robots were still trying to identify the source of the attack another thunderbolt struck them. The Nirvana crewmembers heard a now familiar cry of "SHANDRAKOR" moments before a black and brown blur smashed into the robots.

Seemingly seconds later it was all over. Tam stood over a final Robot as it twitched on the floor before he stabbed the blade of his two handed sword through its power pack and it dropped lifeless.

The tall imperial officer looked over at them and smiled crookedly.

"I thought you could use some help."

Jura, Meia, Barnette and Dita picked there way through the wreckage towards their Vanguards.

"You know." Said Jura as she stepped delicately over a robots body housing. "Sometimes its worth having you around."

"I have my moments." Replied Tam. Then he turned to Hibiki. "Come on little brother, there may be more of those things. Let's get to our Vanguards while they're still intact."

With that he started racing down the corridor Hibiki close behind.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Minutes later in space the Dreads started to form up against the approaching enemy.

"Everyone Hurry." Called Barnette. "We have more attacking units confirmed as coming from the containers."

"Destroy them all before they can reach the Nirvana." Ordered Meia.

"Dita will take care of the Big ones." Called out the red head. Then she looked around confused. "Huh? Where's Mr Alien and Mr Tam?"

As if on cue the Gold and White and the Black and Silver Vanguards suddenly shot out from the bays where they had been docked. Heading for the oncoming cubes.

"Ah he's here. Mr Alien lets unite!" called Dita.

"No way!" yelled Hibiki as he shot past Dita's waiting Dread.

"What! Why?" Cried out Dita in shock. A quick call from Meia cut off any further comments.

"Dita watch out. They're coming!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Hibiki charged straight into the face of the oncoming fighters. His Vanguard wielded an immense battle axe which he used to impressive effect, slicing clean through several of the oncoming cube fighters. He fought with remarkable savagery if not any great finesse

Tam in the meantime also flew directly into the oncoming fighters. But he ducked and weaved between them, all the while sending out viper quick strikes of his Vanguards long sword. Piercing power plants and sensor panels. Destroying his enemies artfully, effectively.

The women in the mean time let fly with the heavy cannons mounted on their Dreads. And succeeded in taking out far more targets that either of the men. But that was partly because the cubes seemed to be clustering around the attacking Vanguards. Making them easy targets for the fast moving Dreads.

"These don't appear to be fighting as effectively as the others we've faced recently." Commented Meia.

"Agreed." Said Tam "They look different too. Maybe they're older models left over from an earlier Harvest?"

The question remained unanswered as it was unlikely any of the attacking cubes were likely to contribute the information.

And so the battle continued. The Four dread pilots continued to circle and blast at the frantic melee. While the men in their vanguards dealt out destruction in a frantic dance with the cubes.

Hibiki seemed to be particularly enraged today. He flailed and beat at the harvesters, both with his weapons and occasionally with other cube fighters. Unfortunately this almost proved to be his downfall as a harvester cube managed to ram him while he was busy swinging another by one of its mechanical claws.

The impact knocked away the axe he had been using and left Hibiki jammed against the harvester. Jura took this opportunity to bring her dread in behind him.

"Hey" she called over the net.

"What?" asked Hibiki angrily as he tried to free his Vanguard.

"You wanna unite?" asked the blonde coyly.

"Hell no!" yelled Hibiki.

Any further conversation was cut off by the arrival of Dita. With a happy cry of:

"Mr Alien Lets Unite!" The redheaded pilot brought her dread into contact with Hibiki's Vanguard, despite the vehement protests of the young man.

Instantly there was a blinding flash of blue Plexis energy. And a now familiar transformation took place. When the light cleared the massive Blue and greed Vandread stood in space.

From her new position on Hibiki's lap Dita called out in triumph.

"I did it. I did it!"

Soon a very irate looking Jura appeared on the comm. Screen.

"I don't believe this!" yelled the angry Blonde pilot. Dita, I'll remember this?"

"Yeah like I'm going to forget it." Retorted Dita as she stuck out her tongue and gave Jura the red eye. Meanwhile Hibiki sat in his seat and groaned in frustration.

"Would you three quit clowning around and take care of those harvester containers!" Yelled the voice of an irate Tam.

"Ok Mr Tam. Well let's GO!" Yelled Dita enthusiastically.

Instantly the massive pylons on the Vandread's back detached and settled themselves into firing position. For a moment they glowed as they charged their power. Then there was a searing flash and a massive beam of energy surged out to connect with the Mission station. For a moment nothing happened. Then there was a massive explosion like the birth of a new sun. When the shockwave cleared there was nothing left of the station but debris. Very small debris. From the cockpit of the Vandread Dita called out in triumph again. While a few angry Dread pilots called out at her to make sure they were clear before shooting next time.

But there was one other observer to the destruction Dita had wrought. From the cockpit of his ship the newcomer watched the scene of destruction with wide eyes.

He had been observing the battle, intending to let the Harvester cubes destroy the pirates and their ship and then comb the wreckage for whatever he could find. He had never in his wildest dreams imagined that they would actually defeat the cubes. Or that they would wield such incredible power. Instantly he knew that he had to learn more about this power, whatever it was. He didn't like it. It would be risky and he detested personal risk, but in this case the potential reward might be worth it. His masters would pay very well for information like this.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back on the Nirvana the crew contemplated the scant remains of the mission. The Dreads has easily mopped up the remaining cubes and the pilots had since returned to their hangars.

On the Bridge Magno looked out at the drifting debris.

"Well, well our business just went down the drain." Said Magno.

"I could say the same thing." The command crew looked up in surprise as the face of an unfamiliar man appeared on the viewscreen.

"Because of your irresponsible attack my engine took some damage. What're you going to do about it?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? We're pirates!" replied Magno.

"Is that so." Replied the newcomer. "Well I know for a fact you're not going to get much out of the remains of the mission. Fortunately I had the chance to scrounge a few of the choicer items before you came along and destroyed it."

Magno frowned at the mans image. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much." Responded the newcomer. Just let me stay on board your ship while I finish my repairs. Maybe we can do some business at the same time?"

"Hmm alright then come onboard."

"Alright. See you soon." Responded the newcomer before he cut the connection.

"Boss, are you sure this is such a good idea?" asked BC.

"We have a better chance of getting information out of him if he comes aboard willingly." Replied Magno. "Besides if he tries anything funny we can just rob him down bare."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Several minutes later the newcomer's ship docked at the main airlock and he made his way aboard. He was greeted by a veritable forest of laser rings and rifles. It looked like half the security officers on the ship had showed up to escort him to the captain.

The newcomer however appeared unfazed by this. "Well, well." He said. "Such pretty ladies. My names Rabat. Nice to meet you all." He said as he stepped forward to greet each member of the security detail.

"Humph Pathetic. Grovelling among women, you're a shame to men." Rabat looked over to where Hibiki, Duero were standing watching the proceedings.

"Huh. What a ill mannered little kid." Said Rabat.

Hibiki flushed. "Men arn'ts supposed to behave like that." He said angrily.

"What like this?" Said Rabat as he pointed at his face and gave an exaggerated smile.

"Why you." Said Hibiki as he stepped forward.

"Stop." Called Meia as she pointed her laser ring between the two. "We'll take you to the boss. This way." She said indicating the direction with a jerk of her head.

"Yes, yes. As you wish." Said Rabat with his hands up.

Hibiki clenched his teeth in frustration as he watched them lead Rabat away.

Further away, hidden in the shadows Tam also observed Rabat's progress. For some reason the newcomer disturbed him. He 'felt' wrong. But he could not say why.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Later on the bridge Rabat was asking the captain about the men on board while he stared around curiously.

"They're prisoners." Explained Magno. "We're from Mejere, the men are from Tarak."

"Hm lets see." Said Rabat as he looked at the view screens curiously. "He was quite surprised to get a view of an apparently naked Bart sitting in his control tank.

"Hey Bro, don't catch a cold in there." Said Rabat, causing Bart to blush

"So what do you want?" asked Magno.

"I'm a scavenger and a trader." Said Rabat. "While I'm aboard just let me do my business."

"Very well." Said Magno as she watched this newcomer through narrowed eyes.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile down in the men's quarters Hibiki was expressing his frustration with the newcomer.

"Shit." He yelled as he kicked over a stack of boxes. "That guy is unbelievable. It irritating just talking to him." Reaching over he picked up his mop and bucket and headed for the register.

Meanwhile Duero sat on his bunk and considered. 'That man'. He thought. 'He knows about the interaction between men and women."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile on the main deck Rabat smiled to himself. Things were going well. The chief engineer of theirs had accepted the component he offered as soon as he said that it would work great with Plexis. Rabat had no idea what Plexis was, but he knew just what that component would do if placed in live machinery for any length of time.

As for the rest of the crew, they had been so easy it was almost laughable. All he had to do was share around a few pretty, but worthless baubles and a little make up and they had all been eating out of his hands. It was strange. Most women would have seen straight through a routine like that coming from a man. It was as if these women had almost no experience with men.

Well, thought Rabat. That could only work to his advantage. He had already learned some very interesting things. Particularly about this strange uniting weapon and this power source of theirs. The Plexis. Now that he thought about it the name did sound familiar. But why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the register Hibiki scrubbed determinedly at the floor with his mop. In the background Gascognue leaned back in her chair. There were only a few others in the register. Everyone else had gone to see what trade goods Rabat had to offer.

In act Gascognue was talking to two who had just returned.

"I was wondering why it was so quiet." She said. "Then I realised, Dita isn't here."

"Well she wouldn't come manager." Said one of the staff. "She's probably still down on the main deck. That new man is really great!"

"Yeah" said another. "They say he's different from any of the other men so far. Apparently he's really kind to women."

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a terrific Crash! They looked around to see that Hibiki had somehow gotten himself buried under a stack of overturned crates.

………………………………………………………………………………………

In another part of the ship, BC suddenly passed through a set of doors into a darkened room. The room was the hangar connecting the Nirvana to Rabat's ship.

Slowly the SubCommander made her way across the dim room to a computer terminal. The terminal was linked to both the Nirvana and Rabat's ship. As such it might be able to provide a bit of information about the newcomer.

BC stood over the terminal and punched in a few commands. The terminal cycled for a few seconds and then obediently displayed the information. BC's eyes narrowed.

'Interesting' the SubCommander thought.

Suddenly the room lightened as the door behind her opened once again.

"Are you looking for something?"

BC turned to face the voice and saw Rabat casually leaning against the door frame.

"Your ship doesn't seem to have taken any damage." Said BC as she stepped forward.

Rabat spread his arms as it to say well what can I do.

"The repairs were completed faster than I thought." He said as he started to move towards BC.

"What is your purpose here?" The question was almost a command.

"Don't be so sharp." Said Rabat easily. "I just wanted to do some business." He moved until he was standing directly in front of BC.

"But more than that." In a sudden motion Rabat leaned forward and cupped BC's chin in one hand.

"How about it? Shall we get to know each other better?" He leered.

BC suddenly smiled slightly, flashing her teeth. Watching her Rabat's leer quickly turned into a frown. His attempt to seduce the Subcommander had mainly been to provoke an angry response and distract her from her line of questioning. If it had actually succeeded then so much the better. But suddenly it didn't appear to be such a good idea.

Rabat was a very good judge of people. In his line of work it was a necessity and the feeling he was getting from the Subcommander put him on his guard. There was something not quite right about this one. There was something about her that was .. dangerous.

"I can smell it." He said. "The smell of gunpowder." Suddenly he backed away with his arms raised. "It seems like touching you is a bad idea." Said the trader as he backed away towards the door.

BC watched him until he disappeared through the door her face stony. Then a thought crossed her mind that made her smile. 'Imagine his surprise' she thought 'if I had let him follow though with his advances.'

………………………………………………………………………………………

In the engineering room Parfait completed a final series of connections though the engineering console.

"Ok, that should do it." She said. "Now lets test it!"

She was eager to see what the results would be of integrating the component she had obtained from Rabat with the Nirvana's power systems. The man had said that it would increase the efficiency of the entire system. Which could mean that they could increase the power to the ships drive, potentially meaning that they could get back home sooner!

Parfait watched nervously as she activated the component. At first nothing happened. Then the light from the plexis started to increase, the blue glow becoming brighter and clearer.

"Wow." Said the chief engineer. "It looks good!"

"Looks like its doing well there."

Parfait turned to see Rabat making his way towards her down past the engineering controls.

"Its like I told you right? The products that I carry are.." the man's voice suddenly broke off in mid sentence.

Rabat stared wide eyed through the viewport at the Plexis. He had though that he had no idea what the 'plexis' the engineer talked about was. But he had been wrong, very wrong. He knew exactly what it was.

How in the hell had the women gotten a hold of it. It had all been used up unless. His mind suddenly recalled a very old rumour. That back during the colonisation age a prototype had been smuggled away with one of the colony ships. Was that what he was looking at? The lost prototype?

Either way he had to get word back to his bosses. They would be very interested to hear of this and the information would be very valuable to them.

Then he suddenly remembered the power of the strange fighting machines he had seen earlier. Could they somehow be tied to this? He had to find out before he left. The potential reward was too much to pass up.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

BC and Magno sat in the captains cabin. Magno listened to BC talk with half an ear. Most of her attention was focussed on the Tarot deck she was shuffling before her.

"That man." Said BC. "There is something strange about him."

"He knows about our planet." Agreed Magno as she turned over a card and inspected it.

"And about the enemies identity or maybe.." BC suddenly fell silent as she saw Magno look at the card with greater scrutiny.

".. he is the enemy itself." Magno finished the subcommanders sentence. "A hermit." She said looking at the card before her. "A hermit implies an outsider, a pursuer an enemy or… a spy."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the medical bay Hibiki winced as Duero peeled off a strip of skin bonding tape. The falling boxes had opened a shallow cut on his forehead, but the tape had now sealed the wound closed.

"Are you worried about Rabat." Asked Duero.

Hibiki looked away frowning.

"He's pretty cool." Commented Bart around a mouthful of food cubes. Unlike the other men the Nirvana's pilot still persisted with the tasteless food of their homeland. This followed a rather unfortunate incident when Bart had decided to sample some of the women's food for himself. Unfortunately what he sampled was something called 'Vindaloo' that Tam had actually been making as an experiment. The result of which was that Bart had spent the next several hours with his head under a water tap and had declined to enter the kitchen since.

"Everyone is saying that." Replied Duero. "That he is kind."

"Are you guy's idiots!" Snapped Hibiki angrily. "He's just a Rat Bastard with a fast tongue. Everyone's getting tricked!"

"New's! Ribbit." The three men turned to see Paiway in the doorway, her frog puppet on her hand. "You wanna hear? You wanna hear?" she asked.

"Shut up! We don't have time for you know, come back later." Said Hibiki, feeling in no mood to deal with the ships resident gossip hound.

"Really? Its about Dita and Rabat, rabbit." Said Paiway, the puppet moving in time with her voice.

Hibiki suddenly blinked his eyes in shock. "Dita and the Rat Bastard? What about them?"

"Oh just that they went down to the Vanguard bays. Rabat asked her to show him your partner."

"WHAT? That Bastard" screamed Hibiki as he leapt to his feet. Before any of the others could respond he pelted down the corridor and was gone.

The others watched his passage bemused.

"Which one do you think he's more worried about?" asked Duero. "The Vanguard or Dita?"

"What's with that kid?" said Bart. "These days he's acting almost as weird as Tam. Speaking of which, where is Tam?"

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tam sat in the dark room staring out at the stars. He was in a little used and not well known observation room in the Ikazuchi section of the Nirvana.

He said hunched over in his seat, his sword across his knees. In his hands he held his Kukri. One hand gripping the handle the other poised on the tip of the blade. He idly spun the blade in his fingers, watching the starlight flicker along the watermark patterns of the New Damascus steel. Suddenly a voice disturbed his reverie.

"So this is where you've been hiding."

Tam did not look up but his mouth twitched slightly in an almost smile.

"Its hiding when I just want to find a quiet place to think?"

"Its hiding when you shut yourself away from everyone because you don't want them to see your pain?" confirmed Meia as she took a seat nearby.

For a moment they sat in an uncomfortable silence. Tam was the first to break it.

"I didn't think you would be able to find me. I thought I had closed off the bond enough to prevent that."

"Yes you did." Agreed Meia. "But this bond we share, it works both ways. You may have tried to close it down, but if I focus I can still will it open. Not much, but enough to find you."

Meia turned to look at Tam who was still aimlessly spinning his odd knife between his hands. His face was blank expressionless, it gave no hint of what he was feeling. But Meia could tell. Through the bond that they shared she could feel his pain, but she could not find its source. His memories were closed off to her, she could not tell what had caused this. She could only tell that it had been growing since the Christmass, since Tam had remembered something he did not want to share.

"Tam, talk to me. Tell me what is troubling you."

His reaction was not what she expected. He turned to stare at her, eyes angry the Kukri suddenly gripped tightly in his hands.

"It is none of your concern." He ground out though clenched teeth.

That reaction would have caused most of the crew to back away in fear. Especially knowing what Tam was capable of. But there were very few things that frightened Meia these days, even fewer now. And she only knew one way to respond to a threat.

"It is my concern when one of my pilots is in pain. It is my concern when there are unnecessary tensions among the crew and it is my concern when one of my pilots is unable to perform their duties properly!" she replied forcefully.

Tam blinked confused and seemed about to protest, but Meia didn't give him the chance.

"Don't try to convince me otherwise. I can feel your pain through our bond. Ever since the Christmas you have been letting the crew distance themselves from you. What's more you have distanced yourself from them. Its almost like you want them to dislike you. And what you are suffering from is affecting your performance. How else do you explain the fact that you are sitting here while we have an unknown and possibly dangerous man on the ship!"

Tam looked at her and Meia could see that her arguments were starting to get through. He opened his mouth as if to say something.

But then suddenly Dita's face appeared on the Comm. screen. The Redhead looked like she had been crying and had hit the ship wide comm. In her distress.

"Help! Someone anyone, Mr Rabat is fighting Mr Alien in the Vanguard bay. He's going to kill him!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Earlier:

Rabat sighed. Just when things had been going so well.

It had been child's play to convince the pretty redheaded pilot to show him the Vanguard bays. Even more fortunate there had been nobody else there when they had arrived. Unfortunately as soon as he had expressed an interest at having a closer look at the Vanguard his guide had protested.

Dita stood in front of Hibiki's Vanguard. Arms wide as if to block Rabat's progress.

"No!" She yelled. "This is Mr Alien's precious partner!"

"I just want to take a little look." Said Rabat soothingly as he stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the Vanguard. 'Yes' he thought. 'there is definitely something here.'

"NO!" Yelled Dita again even more strongly.

Rabat looked down at her annoyed. "Move it" he said. His voice low and menacing.

Dita looked up at him, concern and fear written across her face. But she refused to move out of the way.

"Stop being so serious." Said Rabat as he tried a different tack. Reaching out his hand to cup Dita's face.

"What are you to him?" asked the trader.

"What do you mean?" asked Dita confused.

Rabat smiled slyly. "He doesn't think anything of you. On the contrary he thinks all women are enemies. There just step out of the way." He said as he leaned forward to kiss her. Only to halt abruptly.

"Stop right there! Let her go" Yelled Hibiki's voice.

Rabat turned in surprise. Hibiki stood in the entrance to the bay. Still panting slightly from his run.

"Hmph. That was a good moment there. What an uncouth kid." Said Rabat, who then sneered in triumph as he saw Hibiki tense up in anger.

"I'm not a kid." He retorted angrily. "Where do you keep your eyes."

"Here and here." Replied the trader pointing at his left eye and at the red lens that covered his right.

"I cant stand to think that you're one of us men." Said Hibiki almost snarling in anger. "Get out of here now!"

Rabat scoffed. "And what if I say no?" he sneered.

"I'll force you out." Yelled Hibiki with a raised fist.

At this the older man's eyes narrowed and he made his way slowly towards the younger.

"Interesting." He said.

Hibiki watched him approach for a second. Then he snapped. With a wild cry he hurled himself forward against his antagonist.

Rabat waited for him patiently, making no move. Then as the young man was almost upon him a blinding light suddenly shone out from the red lens over his right eye.

Hibiki pulled up short and instinctively raised his hands to cover his eyes. This was a mistake.

In the instant he was distracted Rabat surged forward and viciously kneed the younger man in the chest, knocking the breath out of him. Hibiki instantly collapsed. Only his grip on the older mans tunic keeping him upright.

"That.. wasn't .. fair.." he said gasping.

"Huh? I cant hear very well." Said Rabat as he raised a hand to his ear. "Anyway its your own rule right?" he continued as he lowered the hand and used it to lift Hibiki up by his head. "Its not mine."

The older man now held the younger at arms length before him. Their eyes almost level.

"I don't know who inspired you but you shouldn't just be parroting someone else's line's." With this Rabat drew back his other hand and sent a roundhouse right straight at Hibiki's face. Held pinned the younger man was unable to dodge. The force of the blow through him backwards across the room to land sprawled outside the bay. The savagery of this strike was what sent Dita running for the communicator.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"A fight?" said BC in shock as she looked at Dita's worried face.

"Please! Someone help. Mr Alien is going to die!" yelled Dita over the screen.

BC turned to look at Magno. "Leave it be." Said the Captain. 'Men learn many things through the body. Meia tells me Hibiki thinks that Tam has been hard on him in their training sessions. Maybe this will teach him differently."

"Understood." Replied BC.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the Vanguard hanger Hibiki stifled a cry as he was slammed against a wall. Pain had become the center of his world as Rabat pounded him around the Hangar.

Earlier he had been angry with Tam, thinking that the older man was being unnecessarily harsh. Now he knew different. The wacks Tam had given him were as nothing compared to the beating he was now receiving from Rabat.

"There's nothing more stupid than a hot head that gets provoked by someone else's trick." Said Rabat as he stood sneering down at the younger man. He looked calm and superior. A marked contrast to Hibiki's now bedraggled appearance.

Gasping Hibiki looked up. His face was a mass of bruises. He was bleeding from a cut lip and they were only his visible injuries. Other bruises covered his body. Moving was agony, even breathing brought pain. But despite this he still tried to stand up. This time he tried to take the stance that Tam had taught him. Rabat observed this and sneered.

"Even if you mimic the appearance your true self gets revealed quickly. You're just a hot-headed young punk!"

Anger gave Hibiki strength to overcome the pain. "Shut up." He yelled through bruised lips as he surged towards Rabat again. But the older man merely sidestepped, grabbed Hibiki's head in passing and used it to slam him into the deck.

Rabat looked down as Hibiki struggled to his feat. Groaning against the pain. He was staggering, he could barely stand upright.

"A really strong person is someone who can charge fiercely with their own words."

Suddenly Rabat surged forward, laying into Hibiki with his fists.

"Just. One. Strong. Real fresh. Word." He said, each word punctuated by a vicious punch to Hibiki's already abused body. "Is worth a million aphorism's." He finished by kicking out with his leg and using it to grind Hibiki into the deck below.

"Stop it!" Dita yelled.

Rabat looked at her and smiled. He was having far too much fun to stop now. The boy had so much more to learn. But Dita's cry had distracted him. He was also unaware of the gathering crowd of crewmembers that had gathered to watch the fight with mounting horror and soon he was much to distracted to notice.

Rabat lurched and gave a sudden cry of pain.

Hibiki had bitten his leg. Like a terrier attacking a lion the younger man had his teeth locked on Rabat's lower calf. His hands braced on the leg to hold himself in place.

Rabat fell back against the floor grimacing in pain.

"Shit!" he cried. "Let go!" but Hibiki only continued.

Enraged Rabat kicked out at Hibiki with his other leg.

"Let go. Let Go. LET GO!" he yelled. Each yell was punctuated by a vicious stamp directly into the younger mans face.

Hibiki refused to let go. But finally the force of Rabat's kicks knocked him away. He slammed into the opposite wall and lay still.

Rabat slowly got to his feet and when he looked down at Hibiki his face was murderous.

'He had been playing until now, enjoying himself. But now things had changed. That boy, that little snot had dared to actually hurt him! Well now he would pay for it.'

Rabat stepped forward to finish the kid off, ignoring the cries of the women around him. But then a brown covered arm grabbed his shoulder and held him in place.

"That's enough." Said a male voice. Rabat checked himself and turned to look into Tam's hard eyes. "What ever the kid has done he's paid for it. Let it be."

Rabat gazed at the newcomer. Took in his size, his clothing and the sword and knife he wore. This one would not be so easy. Best to take care of it quickly. Abruptly he stepped back.

"Alright I'll let it be." He said holding his arm out to Tam.

Tam reached forward hesitantly to shake the outstretched arm, but as he did so Rabat reacted. Surging forward he grabbed Tam's outstretched arm in both his own. Then in a single rapid movement he moved it away and to an angle. There was a sickening wet crack of breaking bone. In the same movement Rabat swung his body around. Pivoting Tam's weight around his own center of gravity as he threw the other man across the room to slam against the far wall.

The on looking women gasped in shock as Tam's body crumpled to a heap. Rabat sneered and turned to face Hibiki once more. He ignored the pleas and cries of the women as he slowly moved towards his victim, slowly considering how he would finish the boy off. Then another noise broke through his concentration.

"Ha ha ha. A ha ha ha." Laughter suddenly resounded through the bay. But this was not light joyful laughter. No, this was dark, deep and sinister. It reverberated around the bay with a hollow echo. All other noise stopped as all present turned to stare at the source of the disturbing noise.

Tam was slowly getting to his feet. He moved slowly with exaggerated care. His right arm hung at an unnatural angle. It had been broken below the elbow and dangled by a flap of skin. The white of the bone and the bright red of his blood could be clearly seen. But this was not the most disturbing thing. There was a wild light in Tam's eyes a madness apparent to all who saw him. All the women gathered started to move back in fear. The fear only increased as Tam spoke again."

""Ha ha ha. A ha ha ha. Forgive me for underestimating you. I thought you were only human but I see I was mistaken."

Rabat stared at the newcomer in shock. "What.. what do you mean."

Tam smiled sinisterly as he pointed at the trader. "Muscle enhancements all though your body. Reinforced alloy coating your bones. Back up life support systems to support the major organs and adrenal and endorphin stimulators. Yes you have a very nice set of augmentations. I wonder where you got them from?"

Rabat suddenly felt cold. When his bosses had given him his enhancements at the start of his mission they had ensured that they were well hidden. His job relied on him appearing human. On being able to blend in with the people on the worlds he visited. Only a detailed surgical scan should have been able to detect his implants, yet this person had done so with apparently his own eyes. What the hell was happening here?

"Yes you should be an interesting match." Continued Tam. "That is of course unless even with all your implants you're afraid to fight more than an undersize boy?"

That stung, but even goaded like that Rabat did not stop thinking. Lifting his hand he pointed. "What about that sword you're wearing. It'll hardly be a fair fight if you use that."

Wordlessly Tam reached up to unbuckle the straps of his baldric. He then laid the sword on the floor behind him and walked forward with predator's grace.

Rabat settled into a defensive stance and waited for him to come.

"Don't think I'm going to hold back because of your broken arm." He warned

Tam stopped and looked down. Then he grasped the gangling portion of his broken arm in his good hand.

"Oh you mean this?"

With a sudden motion he twisted the arm back into its proper position and held it in place, his good hand covering the break. There was another wet crunch that caused cries of disgust from the watching women. Tam ignored them. He simply stood flexing the broken arm for a few moments, then he removed his good arm.

Rabat and the assembled women stared in shock.

Tam watched the arm as he gave it a few experimental flexes and jabs. The arm appeared completely healed. There was still a gash in his jerkin where the bone had poked through, but the arm itself moved as if it had never been broken.

Tam ceased his flexing, apparently satisfied and turned to stare at Rabat with cold, cold eyes. "I trust you have no further objections?" he asked in a voice that would almost have been polite, if not for the chill it conveyed.

Rabat was unable to respond other than to shake his head.

"Then let us begin." Said Tam.

Then he moved.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Rabat was a veteran of close combat. In the course of his many travels he had met and fought and defeated more opponents than he could remember. At first solely with the superior speed and strength his augmentations gave him. But then over time he had mastered a number of close combat techniques. He found it so much more satisfying to defeat his opponents with skill rather than brute force.

But never in his travels had he encountered someone that moved as Tam did now.

There was no warning. No hint of his intentions.

One minute he was standing there seemingly relaxed after setting his arm. The next he was charging towards Rabat with deadly speed. Rabat was shocked. To attack so quickly with no indication, no hints to give away his intention was almost unheard of.

Rabat desperately backed away. Trying to put some distance between himself and this potentially lethal figure. But he could not match Tam's speed.

"Fortunately' he thought. 'I don't have too.'

Smirking he sent a command to the lens he wore over his right eye. One again there was a blinding flash of light as the lens let loose an optic flare. Under the cover of the flares burst Rabat surged forward, his knee already drawn back in preparation to strike Tam the same way he had Hibiki. With a smirk of triumph he sent his knee surging towards where the other mans gut should be.

Only to almost fall to the ground when the knee encountered only thin air.

Puzzled Rabat stopped and gazed around before him.

'Where is he? Where can he have..'

He was still forming the thought when an answer came. Suddenly Rabat was sent hurtling forward to hand flat on his face. Something had kicked him in the ass with the force of a sledge hammer. Rabat groaned and clutched his know aching buttocks.

'What the?' he thought.

"You will have to do better than that child beater. What's the matter? Are you only capable of facing opponents over whom you hold every advantage?"

Rabat looked behind him at the source of the voice. Tam stood several feet behind him. He stood seemingly relaxed, his arms folded before him. But the satisfied expression on his face removed any doubt that he had been the source of the strike.

Anger surged through Rabat and he translated it into action. Bracing himself he surged to his feet and charged at Tam. Arms and legs flying in a flurry of well coordinated punches and kicks. None of them did any good.

Calmly, almost lazily, Tam moved to avoid each of the strikes against him. He moved with an easy grace that was almost unnatural to behold. Ducking just before a punch, stepping just out of the way of a kick. Positioning an arm to deflect a strike just so. He made it appear childishly easy, and it served to infuriate Rabat even more.

But Tam was not done tormenting his attacker. Suddenly he shifted partly to attack.

Now each time Rabat attempted to strike him. Not with a strike in turn but with an open handed slap. The loud, Wack! Of flesh striking flesh echoed in the Vanguard bay. The strikes did Rabat almost no damage. But they did hurt and they were infuriating, which was just what Tam intended.

Anger coursed through Rabat white hot and moved to Rage. With an inarticulate bellow he aimed a massive strike at Tam's head putting the fully force of his body behind the blow. But once again Tam ducked under the blow and moved behind him.

Unfortunately for Rabat he had backed Tam into the edge of the bay. Instead of Tam's skull his fist encountered the hard unyielding steel of the Vanguard bay.

"Arrrraaahhhh." Rabat screamed in pain. He had almost crushed the knuckles of his own hand with that strike. White hot pain radiated out from his hand as he knelt on the floor, clutching it to his chest. Tears of agony streaming down his face.

Then he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh, how clumsy of you. Now why would you want to go and hit a wall like that?"

Rabat turned to face the voice. Once again Tam stood behind him, his stance calm and relaxed. Only now there was a smile on his face.

'He was smirking. That bastard was smirking at him!'

For Rabat this was the last straw. White hot anger surged through him, completely displacing the pain. He keyed buried mental commands, implanted many years ago.

The augmentations in his body acknowledged the commands and began to implement them. And for the first time since they had been installed, Rabat brought the full range of his augmentations online at once.

Rabat slowly got to his feet, making a show of being in pain. He waited until his augmentations confirmed that they were fully active. Then, he struck.

There was no warning. No indication of what he was about to do. One minute Rabat had been standing there clutching his hand. The next an orange and brown blur was hurtling towards Tam.

As he approached, Rabat saw Tam's eyes widen in shock. Saw him start to move out of the way. But it was too late. Rabat closed to within striking distance and as he did so he let loose with a massive roundhouse swing backed by all of his enhanced strength. The blow hit Tam directly on his jaw, and its force was enormous. A loud crack could be heard throughout the bay as another bone broke. But it did not stop there. The force of the blow was so great that it sent Tam flying through the air. He only stopped when he struck the far wall and slammed into it full force before he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Rabat laughed in triumph as he watched his enemy fall. Then he heard a noise.

He looked down in shock, then in disbelief. Tam was slowly getting to his feet.

'Impossible!' thought Rabat. 'A blow like that should be able to break steel. I felt his bones crack! No human should be able to survive that!'

But contrary to all expectations this man obviously had, and a cold chill passed down Rabat's spine as he realised that like himself, this man may not be wholly human.

Tam finally got to his feet. He shook himself a few times and felt his jaw. Then he turned to face Rabat. The watching women and even Rabat himself stepped back in shock.

Tam's face was locked in a Deaths Head grin. His lips drawn back in an unnaturally wide smile to show all of his teeth. Those teeth were bloody. The blood from split lips or gums trickled through them and down his chin.

But this only served to make him more disturbing, not less.

"Now" he said in a sibient voice that was halfway between a growl and a whisper.

"That's better!" he breathed deeply for a few moments before saying one word "_Boost_"

And then he moved, charging forward with a speed so inhuman he was no more than a blur. As he did so the familiar battlecry of "SHANDRAKOR." Thundered through the bay. And across the bay Rabat charged to meet him, his speed equally inhuman, equally fast. The rage that had fuelled him before now enhanced by another emotion. Fear.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

A large number of the women of the crew were by now gathered outside the bay. Watching the fight take place. But when asked later, as many of them were, almost none of them would have been able to describe exactly what took place.

The two combatants moved as blurs. Both were moving so fast that only the vague shape of their bodies could be seen. The two blurs were not in constant contact. Rather they circled one another at incredible speeds before slamming together for a few moments when their speed became even more frantic before moving apart. Sometimes one of the blurs would suddenly be thrown violently across the room. But even then they were usually moving so fast that it was hard to identify who it was. But a fight was definitely taking place. The floor of the bay was dotted with splatters of blood. Some little more than drops, some far larger. This was the only indication most of the women had as to hard and vicious the fight was. Except for one.

Meia stood on top of a power generator in a corner of the bay. She had been watching the fight since Tam had intervened. When she first saw Rabat break Tams arm she had been worried. But after seeing Tam get back up and humiliate Rabat she had relaxed. Now she was worried again, but for a different reason.

Unlike the other women she was able to follow the progress of the fight. She did not know if it was due to her experience as a dread pilot, with the need to be able to perceive and react to fast moving objects, or her connection with Tam. But somehow she could clearly see the progress of the two combatants. And what she saw worried her.

The conflict between Tam and Rabat was savage. They would separate, circled one another looking for an opening but when they slammed together it was hard and brutal. Each man would aim a flurry of blows and kicks at the other. They appeared to be targeting the head, the lower body, the legs and the groin. That more than anything showed this was a serious fight. They were not playing, they were trying to kill each other. Rabat was obviously putting everything into the fight. He aimed his punches to kill or cripple and he desperately sought to avoid blows aimed at him.

But Tam, he was just wading in. He seemed focused on hitting his enemy, but the blows he struck seemed more to cause pain than to take Rabat out of the fight. What's more he was making little or no effort to avoid Rabat's attacks. He seemed to wade right into them as long as it meant that he could strike back in turn.

'In fact' Meia thought as she saw Tam's death head grin widen slightly as he absorbed a vicious punch to his guts. 'He seems to accepting the blows, even asking for them. It's almost as if he wants to be hit.'

The thought disturbed Meia enough that she decided to try something she would otherwise never have done. Tam's attention was completely focused on the fight below. She hoped that meant that he would be distracted enough.

She breathed deeply, centering herself and then she reached out for the bond she shared with Tam.

When the bond had first started neither of them had been sure how to react. It gave them access to one another's thoughts and feelings and even their memories. For someone as private as Meia it was an intrusion almost beyond bearing. But Tam had been familiar with such bonds in concept if not in experience and he had helped her to lay down some rules so that they could both live with what had happened to them. Meia was about to break one of those rules now.

Reaching out she suddenly entered Tam's mind. At first there was pain and Meia almost gasped aloud. So much physical pain, but the pain was balanced by the rush of adrenaline and endorphins that the Boost flooded through Tam's system and eventually Meia was able to block it out. But now came the difficult part. Reaching out once again she tried to enter the inner portion of Tam's mind. This was his private space, his innermost self. The same place that he had gone to in her mind to save her when she had been dying from the Plexis shard. If she did this he might never forgive her, but she could not stand by and watch him destroy himself. He had saved her life. She would repay that now, even if it meant destroying the trust that had built up between them. So slowly she reached out with her mind and brushed his inner barriers.

There was resistance at first. Tam had built up too many walls trying to minimise the bond they shared. But the mental walls required his concentration to maintain, and all Tam's attention was focused on his fight with Rabat. So slowly she was able to make her way through them. Then suddenly abruptly she was through. She could feel the full force of the bond. Felt it recognise her, accept her and pull her in. Into a world of pain and anguish.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Pain not physical pain but mental pain of the most excruciating sort. Anguish, despair and longing so strong it felt like it would swallow her whole. Tam's inner mind was a roiling volcano of these emotions. Meia felt them wash over her and this time they were so strong that she was forced to her knees. It took all her will, all her mental discipline but she was able to distance herself from it. To tear herself away and re-establish the mental barriers that Tam had placed on their bond. When this was done she sat on her knees and watched the fight below her with a new understanding, as the memory of the pain she had briefly shared throbbed through her whole being.

Pain. That was what Tam felt. She had known that he was in pain but she would never have guessed that what he was feeling was as bad as this. It was there lurking within him. That was what she had felt. Somehow since the Christmas this pain had awakened within Tam. He was desperately trying to conceal it, but it was too strong. It was eating away at him and so he had been looking for some source of release.

That was the reason he had been distancing himself from the crew. That was the reason for his fight with Hibiki, for him trying to shut her out of the bond. And that was the reason that Tam was allowing himself to get hit in the fight below.

He wanted to be hit. He wanted to be hurt. Because he wanted desperately to feel something other than the despair and anguish that was gnawing away at his heart.

But he would not succeed. Meia knew, just as she once had rather than facing the source of his pain he was running away from it. Until he faced it he would find no relief. And that meant that the fight below was pointless.

Nodding to herself, her decision made, Meia got to her feet.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Tam and Rabat exchanged blows. One delivered a vicious uppercut to the jaw, while the other delivered a punch straight to the others guts. The force of the blows knocked the two away from each other for a moment. They stopped briefly and stared at one another.

Both combatants were covered with bruises. Their faces a patchwork of tan and purple skin. Both of them were bleeding. Either from the mouth or from scrapes along the forehead. They were both tired, they're bodies driven to the fullest. But as they looked each other in the eyes their hatred was undiminished. And then suddenly surged forward to continue the conflict once again.

But before they could engage again they both slammed to a halt as the brilliant flash of a laser blast cut through the air between them. The both backed up to give themselves space, then they turned to look at the source of the shot.

Meia stood on top of the generator. The laser ring on her hand held out before her.

"Game over." She said. Both men looked at her angrily, then their eyes were drawn back to each other. Despite their injuries it was obvious that they both wanted to continue the fight. Meia's voice rang out again. "Tam! Did you hear me? I said it's over." Tam continued staring at Rabat and for a moment it seemed that he would refuse. Then he let out a deep sighing breath and he stepped back, allowing his body to relax. The habit of obeying orders was too ingrained, just as Meia had hoped.

Rabat looked at Tam angrily. As he saw the other man relax he started to step forward, determined to finish this fight. Another blast of laser light made him stop. He turned to look at Meia angrily. Then he heard another noise behind him.

He turned to see the onlooking crowd of crew members. Only now they weren't just sitting back and watching. Each of the women held a laser ring or a rifle and they were all pointed at him.

"You're ship is repaired and your business here is over." Said Meia. "Time for you to go." Rabat sighed and relaxed. Raising his hands he started to make his way back to his ship. There was no point in fighting a losing battle, and the future would offer opportunities for revenge on much more favourable terms.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The bridge crew watched on their monitors as Rabat's ship disengaged its docking tube and started to move away.

"Rabat's ship is leaving." Reported one of the techs.

"Parfait! Fire up the engines!" ordered Magno. "Lets go the pirate way." Said the commander with a smile.

Moments later the Nirvana's powerful engines flared to life. Instantly propelling the ship forward in pursuit of Rabat's retreating vessel.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the engineering bay Parfait watched entranced as the Plexis stared to glow brighter and brighter.

"Cool, cool." Said the chief engineer. "It's operating at five time's normal capacity!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In his piloting tank. Bart crouched forward in anticipation as the Nirvana closed on Rabat's ship.

"Closer, closer, closer." He said excitedly.

"Don't let him escape!" ordered Magno. Then in a lower voice to herself. "We're gonna rob you down good."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

On his ship Rabat swore angrily as he applied more pain numbing paste from the medical kit.

His whole body felt like it was on fire. It almost felt like he could feel each individual muscle screaming in pain. The augmentations he had allowed him to move inhumanly fast in a fight, but his muscles themselves were still human and they had never been designed to move that fast. He only hoped that there would be no long term damage from this fight. Body parts were so expensive to replace.

Suddenly a proximity alarm started to beep. He looked over at it and saw it display the Nirvana moving up close behind him. He grinned unconcerned. They might be closing on him for now. But any minute now…

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Suddenly in engineering the glow of the Plexis started to fluctuate like a dying light bulb. It flared brightly for a moment before dying away to almost nothing.

"What! What's happening?" called out Parfait in alarm.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion from one of the panels. Filling the engine room with thick black smoke.

'Well' thought Parfait as she coughed in the thick smoke. 'That's what you get for using bootleg components.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………

In space Rabat's ship continued to accelerate away. But the Nirvana suddenly came to a dead stop.

"Hey what are you doing?" yelled Bart angrily. "Engine room. He's getting away."

"I don't know exactly. But I think that system we got from him exploded. That component was definitely defective. Someone put in a complaint!"

On the bridge BC and Magno watched Rabat's ship retreat into the distance.

"He got us." Said Magno

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Rabat watched the Nirvana recede into the distance behind him. He had obtained great satisfaction from seeing his booby trap work. It would be quite a while before they could come after him and by that time he would be long gone.

But the satisfaction he felt did not overcome the pain he was now in. The pain had been getting worse and worse since the fight ended. Not even the painkillers from the medical kit were completely blocking it out.

Silently he vowed that he would have his revenge on that ship and on that man in particular. Then he smiled and looked at the data disk before him. The disc contained all the information that he had obtained about the ship, its weapons and its power source. He had a feeling that his masters would be very happy with what it contained.

In a way it was almost a pity. There had been so many gorgeous women on that ship. He wouldn't have minded having his way with quite a few of them. But he had a feeling that his masters would leave them in no fit state for that after they were finished. A pity, but there were other women out there and he would be able to buy the attentions of many with the reward he would obtain from this information.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Later as the Nirvana entered its night cycle Tam made his way to the captains briefing room. He was dressed only in his brown leathers. The bruises on his face were now fading, either thanks to Duero's ministrations or his own accelerated healing. He carried no weapons, not even his Kukri. Earlier he had received a very terse call ordering him to report to the Captain immediately and that was what he was here to do. He was about to press the intercom to report his presence when the doors suddenly slid open and Magno's voice echoed through.

"Come in Tam."

He stopped for a moment in surprise then he entered the room.

When he entered he received another shock. The room was nearly empty. Its only occupants were Magno, who sat in her usual chair at the head of the table and Meia who stood behind the Captain on her right hand side. Unusually both BC and Gascognue were missing from the meeting.

Tam approached the captain. When he was about two meters away he saluted her fist to chest and stood at attention.

"Captain. You asked to see me?"

"Yes Tam I did. Meia has told me some disturbing things about you."

Tam shot Meia a quick look. The dread commander's face remained expressionless. He could not feel her through the bond. She had shut herself out. If Magno noticed this she ignored it and continued."

"She tells me that through this bond you share that she can tell that you are in great pain. She also tells me that this pain is beginning to affect your work. Your judgement and your interactions with the crew."

Tam started to protest, but Magno cut him off.

"And from what others have said she is right. Before you were starting to fit in with the crew. Well, as much as any man could. But lately you have been becoming more distant and detached. And the fight with Rabat demonstrates that you are no longer thinking of your duty to protect the crew. Or do you claim that that fight was for anything more than selfish reasons?"

Tam jerked as if he had been slapped, but then his head dipped. He made no effort to deny what Magno had said was the truth.

Magno nodded satisfied. "You acknowledge that what ever this is it is interfering in your duty. So Tamorasp Naghanashar do you have anything you wish to tell me?"

Tam's head jerked up with surprise as Magno used his full name. For a moment he stared at her and it appeared that he was about to speak. Then a spasm crossed his face and he ducked his head again.

"No captain. I apologise. I have been remiss in my duties. It will not happen again."

Magno nodded. "I'm sorry Tamorasp but that is not good enough. I am now giving you a direct order. Tell me what is troubling you. Tell me what you remembered over Christmas that is causing you to act this way!"

Tam looked up in shock. "Captain you can't order me to."

Slam. Magno banged her chair against the floor cutting Tam off.

"I can and I do. Whatever these memories are they are interfering with your duties on board this ship. That makes them my concern. Now for the second time I order you to tell me what happened. Now are you going to tell me or are you going to disobey a direct order?"

It was apparent to the two women that Tam was struggling with the order he had been given. For a moment he looked defiant and Magno was worried that she had pushed him too far. Then he slumped defeated. Magno relaxed and let loose a breath she did not realise she had been holding. She had been right, his habit at obeying orders was too strong to break.

Tam sighed deeply. "May I sit down Captain?"

Magno looked at him in surprise then nodded. It was highly unusual from Tam to ask to sit down. Usually he had to be ordered to take a seat.

She watched as he slowly eased his way into a chair. He grasped his arms before him and leaned his head on them for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then he began to speak.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"I have told you before of how the empire was in the middle of a civil war. Of how the majority of the imperial fleet in which I served had rebelled against the usurper Finn Durendal. I told you of my first battle in that conflict, the assault on Khrishaar Prime when I served on the BlackSword."

The women nodded. Tam sighed again and continued.

"The war was a long one. It had been dragging for 6 years (3). Although the majority of the Fleet had joined the rebellion some of it had not. In addition the Durendal's forces had occupied many planets. Including the manufacturing and production facilities. In the early stages of the War he kept us distracted trying to prevent attacks against low tech worlds and against our alien allies, like the assault on Khrishaar Prime. By the time we had dealt with these Finn's forces were firmly entrenched on several worlds. That meant that we had to retake them one at a time.

It was a long and brutal war. I saw a lot of death and destruction. I saw terrible acts committed by both sides. By the end of the sixth year of the War I was becoming heartily sick of it. My commanders knew this and so, they sent me on a diplomatic mission to my Homeworld, New Nepalla at Christmas time."

"The mission was really unnecessary. My people had never supported Finn. The Nepallan's in Imperial service had either joined the Rebellion or been killed fighting against Finn's forces during the takeover. New Nepalla provided the rebellion with troops and food but could provide little else. Most of the planet itself was still very primitive and we liked it that way. My diplomatic mission was little more than an excuse for me and a few thousand other Neppallan's to have some R&R over Christmas. The War had been going well for us and our commanders thought that they could spare use for a few weeks before we made the final push at the remaining systems Finn controlled before moving to retake the capital."

"I remember how much we were all looking forward to seeing our home. Many of us had not been back for years. I had not seen it in nearly ten years. Between my time in the fleet and the War, I had very little time to visit my family. I was looking forward to seeing them and my home. The mountains with their snow capped peaks, the valleys with their deep forests. Even to feel the bitter cold of the winter winds and the storms. All the things that reminded me of home."

The women watched the bittersweet smile on Tam's face. Then his face hardened.

"But it was not to be. Someone else had already visited New Nepalla.

Finn Durendal knew that he was losing the war and so in an effort to turn the tide. We later learned that he had sent emissaries to New Nepalla at first offering the elders of my people great riches if they ordered all of us to side with Finn and turn against the rebellion. The story is that the elders killed the emissary themselves for even suggesting such a thing. Finn's next offer was much less polite. He moved ten transmutation platforms, his last ten into orbit around New Nepalla. He used StarCruisers to destroy our ground to space defences and then he issued his ultimatum. Either the people of New Nepalla sided with him or he would see our planet destroyed utterly."

Here Tam stopped for a moment.

"There used to be a saying in the Empire that Nepallan's were as stubborn as the mountains that covered our planet. We proved it that day. A vote was taken and almost unanimously my people decided to deny Finn's demands."

Here Tam paused and for a moment a fierce pride replaced the pain in his eyes.

"Even with the spectre of death hanging over their heads they would not agree to aid Finn. To the end we stayed true to our traditions.

But Finn had not been bluffing."

"When we emerged out of hyperspace at first we thought that we had arrived at the wrong planet. All the navigational data checked out but nothing about the planet was right. Then we picked up a signal from a satellite Finn had left behind and we learned the truth."

Now Tam looked up at Magno and Meia and for the first time the full extent of the pain he had carried concealed deep inside shone naked from his eyes.

"It was gone. All of it. The mountains, the valleys. The villages, the cities, the temples. EVERYTHING! The entire world, the whole planet had been reduced to a lifeless ball of mud! In one fell swoop Finn destroyed almost everything about our people because he destroyed our home."

Here Tam broke down. He hunched over and tears started too trickled down his face and his body was wracked by sobs. The women could only look on as they tried to comprehend the full horror of what Tam had described to them.

In a voice now hoarse and chocked by tears Tam continued.

"Although it was a tradition to take service with the Empire. Almost all of us who did would return to our home. The people there would understand what we had been through. Would respect us for what we had done, rather than fear us. The peace of our home was to be our reward for our service once we returned. But now our home is gone. We can never go back.

Ever since I found myself here. I have nursed a hope. That one day I would be able to return to the Empire. But beyond that that one day I would be able to return home, to my world and to my people."

"But now." Said Tam though tear stained eyes. "Now I can never go home. Because now I have no home. I have no people. And I am all alone."

Meia could take it no more. Through the bond she felt Tam's anguish clearly and now that she knew the reason it was all the more terrible. She rushed forward to stand behind Tam's seat. She hesitated, awkward, uncertain of what to do. And then slowly, carefully she reached out and hugged Tam from behind.

He jerked in surprise for a moment, then he eased back into her embrace. One on his hands closed over her's like a drowning man clutching a lifeline.

At the same time Meia reached out with her mind. She could not share or take away his pain, even if she knew how Tam would not let her. So instead she focused on being there. Being a presence in his mind. Showing him that despite what he thought he was not alone. Just as he had once done for her.

Magno watched the two for several minutes. Then she slowly got up and made her way towards him. She waited until finally Tam raised his face to look at her. Then she reached out a hand and stroked his chin.

"Finally you are truly one of us." She said. Tam looked at her in surprise.

Magno smiled and continued

"All of us here have lost our homes. Have lost something or someone dear to us or have lost our place in the world. That is why we are all so defensive about this ship and about strangers. This is our home now and after the loss of our first we are all the more determined that no one will take this away from us to. Now I make the same offer to you I have made to the others at one time or other. Will you accept this as your home Tamorasp Naghanashar and will you defend it as such as long as you remain here?"

As she spoke she pulled back her hand, but held it in front of her in a gesture she knew the man would know.

Tam stared at the captain's hand for a moment. He looked into her eyes, but in them he only saw acceptance. So he reached out and with care shook the captain's hand.

Magno did not relinquish the hand after the shake. But instead moved closer to grip Tam by the shoulder, her other hand still gripping his.

And so in the briefing room surrounded by the care and support of two women who although once perhaps enemies, had now in a strange way become like family. Tamorasp Naghanashar, the last of his family, perhaps the last of his people.

At last sat and cried and finally confronted the grief that he had tried to avoid for so long.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Some time later. Tam exited the briefing room and walked to the bridge railing that overlooked the park. He felt better than he had for a long time. The pain was still with him. In fact he knew the pain would never fade, not completely. But for the first time since it had awakened, or more properly reawakened, he thought that it might one day be bearable.

In his mind he could still feel Meia. She was on her way to her quarters. She had offered to stay with him but through the bond they had both felt the need for some distance after what they had shared. Besides, with the bond they were never truly apart.

As he stood watching the stars and the glow of the lights through the waters in the park he noticed a small figure sitting crosslegged on sand before the water. Turning he started to make his way down to the park.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Hibiki sat facing the waters. The bruises on his face and the injuries he had sustained had now been treated. He would fully recover form the beating he had taken within a few days. When his pride would recover is another matter.

Suddenly he noticed another figure. He looked around to see Tam take a seat next to him. The older man said nothing and did not look at him. Only sat staring at the stars.

Hibiki hunched over and looked away. But after a while he sighed. Sitting here he had had a lot of time to think and he knew what he should do.

"I'm sorry." He said finally.

"For what?" Tam replied.

Hibiki looked over, thinking he was being mocked. But the older man was still staring at the stars with a calm expression on his face. Hibiki sighed again he did not like admitting this but it was the truth.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you and didn't listen to you in training. You kept saying I needed to learn more. That I needed to learn how to fight properly. I thought you were just jealous of what I could do with my partner. But after that fight with that Rat Bastard I realise that I rely on my partner too much. Without it I really can't fight that well. I need to learn how to be strong without my partner."

"Then some good has come of this meeting with Rabat."

Hibiki turned to look at Tam in shock. The older man turned to face him and smiled.

"That was a lesson that I have been trying to teach you for a long time little brother. I was afraid that you would not learn it before your recklessness got you killed. But you are still alive, if a little bruised and the lesson is learned. So some value has come out of this."

Now Tam turned serious. "I also have something to apologise to you for little brother."

Hibiki turned to Tam questioningly.

Tam sighed. "When I started to teach you I used the techniques that had been used to teach me. But I did not ask your consent to do so. Some of those techniques are hard and painful and I should only have done some of what I did with your consent. I had no choice in my training, my Grandfather decided that for me. But I have no right to make that choice for you and so I ask your forgiveness."

Here Tam bowed his head at the younger man.

Hibiki looked away for a moment and then looked back at the older man.

"Tam?"

He looked up.

"Yes Hibiki?"

"Will you teach me to fight, the same way you were taught?"

The older man looked at him for a second then smiled and held out his hand. They both shook firmly then turned back to stare at the stars in a companionable silence.

After several minutes Tam spoke again.

"Rabat was right about one thing you know." "

Hibiki turned to stare at Tam in Shock.

"You should find your own words to fight with not parrot someones else's." Continued the older man as he turned to face the younger.

Hibiki looked at Tam. His expression confused and a little hurt

Tam turned to smile at the younger man to take the sting out of what he had just said.

"I have been glad to teach you little brother, but the words that I say may not be for you. They have been carried in my family for generations. They are in our blood and our bone. We live them from the day we are capable of understanding them. But though you may take wisdom from them they are not yours. You need to find your own words your own creed to be all you can be."

Hibiki looked more confused

"Are you saying I can never be like you?"

Tam shook his head.

"I am saying why would you want to. I have been shaped, moulded by the teachings of those that have gone before me. I am exactly what I was trained to be. A soldier and a warrior, to an extent a leader. But while I have many strengths I also have weaknesses."

Here Tam turned to look at the stars before turning back and grasping Hibiki's shoulder as he looked into his eyes.

"Do not seek to emulate me too closely little brother. Do not limit yourself to that. My training and my life has made me into what I am but you, you can take another path. You can choose to be more."

Then he stopped and turned away.

And so the two of them sat there. One of them remembering what had been. Still feeling the pain of those memories, but now also drawing strength from them.

While the other sat and considered what may yet be and as man has done since time immemorial drew inspiration from the stars.

…………………………………………………………………………………

The end. For now.

…………………………………………………………………………………

(1) I know that this episode technically occurs after the meeting with Rabat, but I fiddled with the sequence a bit to help my story flow.

(2) Least useful in the sense that most of his special abilities only apply in Hand to hand combat. This will change eventually, but not for a little while yet.

(3) This differs from the events portrayed in DeathStalker Coda. In the final book of the trilogy the Civil war is quite a brief affair, the whole affair appeared to take less than a year. In the universe I have created it went on for far longer and was much more destructive. This is the first point in which my story differs from Simon R. Green's books, it will not be the last

To my readers.

First off I would like to apologise. It has taken me an incredibly long time to update. Partly this has been due to the chapter itself. I thought it would be a little shorter, but it kept growing until at the end I think it was around 19,000 works.

The second thing is that a number of things have happened to hinder my writing. Such as the fact that as of April 11th 2005 I have been on secondment from my home in Perth Western Australia, to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

So I have been distracted by flying over, attending training in other states, travelling to other states for work and flying between Canberra and my home in Perth every 3 weeks. So every three weeks I spend 9 hours in a plane (which really cuts into my writing time, I tried writing on the plane but it is almost physically impossible), plus I have been spending a lot of time sightseeing and all and have generally been too busy for writing.

Will the next chapter be out earlier. I certainly hope so. Now that I have access to the Vandread episdodes again my work is not hindered in that way. Will I be able to find the time to write, we'll see.

Once again I apologise for the delay but please understand that moving and working interstate, (well from Perth to Canberra is technically across a subcontinent) generates all kinds of problems and sorting them out used up a lot of my free time. Now that things are settled I will hopefully be able to update more frequently.

Until then.

DarkBlade the Damned.

P.S. Thank you to all those who posted reviews asking when the next chapter was coming up, but guy's next time use my email address and I'll give you a reason for the delays. Its on my writers page.

End:


	11. VanStalker Chapter 9: Boiling Point

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or DeathStalker.**

**Vandread belongs to Studio Gonzo.**

**DeathStalker belongs to Simon R Green.**

Vanstalker Chapter 9: Boiling Point

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In an ill lit storeroom. Somewhere on the Nirvana, the dull hum of cooling systems was sudden disturbed by another sound. First the sharp click of stiletto booted feet, followed by two pairs of duller, heavier thuds. Finally another noise joined the disturbance. This time the voice of a young girl.

"And this, and this and this." Said Dita as she moved from cooler to cooler in the little used room. She knelt down by another cooler. As she opened it there was a sharp hiss as air escaped from and rushed to fill the vacuum sealed container.

"Oh and I'll need some of this too!" said the Redhead as she gazed down at the containers contents.

"Hey!" said a dull weary voice behind her.

Dita glanced back over her shoulder to see the form of Hibiki standing behind her clutching another container with a long suffering expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry it'sits heavy right?" said the Red head in apology.

Hibiki flushed. Embarrassed and unwilling to admit to any weakness in front of a woman.

"What? No this isn't heavy at all."

Dita smiled back at him.

"That's just what I expected from you Mr Alien. Her take this too." Said Dita as she held out the container she had just pulled out of the refrigeration unit. As she did so another voice interrupted her.

"Well if his isn't heavy then these certainly are. Please tell me we're nearly finished?"

The voice came from what looked like a moving stack of boxes. Tam stood behind Hibiki, but unlike the younger man he was carrying so many boxes that it was impossible to see his face around the stack he was carrying.

"Oh Mr Tam. Yes now we have everything we need for.."

"For what?" Interrupted another voice. "What are you guys doing?"

Dita and Hibiki looked around, while behind them the box stack oriented itself towards the sound of the voice. Through a gap in one of the nearby shelves Dita and Hibiki could see Paiway, the Nirvana's nurse peering at them suspiciously.

Dita started visibly and looked flustered.

"Not.. not much." She said haltingly.

"Its nothing really."

"Hmm how suspicious." Said Paiway

"Look this has nothing to do with you Paiway." Snapped Dita "So don't bother us."

The young nurse looked stunned and a little hurt by this outburst. Particularly as it was coming from Dita. Then after a moment she seemed to rally herself and looked at Dita again smiling.

"Hey do you know what day today is?"

"Huh? Today?" said Dita in apparent confusion. "What is it?"

Paiway's eyes narrowed again and she dropped away out of sight.

Tam and Hibiki watched this exchange in confusion. Their confusion only deepened when Dita started to laugh quietly to herself.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile on the Bridge Parfait stood starring into the eyepiece of a large telescope.

"I can see it!" the Nirvana's chief engineer suddenly shouted out loud.

"I've waited so long for this day!"

"If you can see Mejere through that telescope then how far have we come on our journey back?" Asked Magno from her command chair.

"Umm about half way?" said Parfait uncertainly as she turned around to stare at her Captain.

"Our message pods should be reaching the mother planet about now then." Said BC from her duty station."

Unless the Harvest has already started there and everyone is already dead was the unspoken thought that went through everyone's mind.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile in her quarters Paiway was busy shooting darts at her collection of photos of Hibiki and Dita.

'I can't believe this' she thought to herself. "Dita and I used to be such good friends. But since those men came on board she spends all her time chasing after that short one. I can't believe she even forgot about what today meant for me."

Paiway sighed deeply, then she got up and left her room. Somehow she just didn't feel like being alone right now. Time to see what the rest of the crew were doing.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile Dita and her little troop were walking through the corridors of the crew quarters of the Nirvana.

"Mr Alien, Mr Tam please hurry up." Called the red head as she turned to stare at the two men who were slowly following her down the corridor.

Hibiki was staggering around as he attempted to carry a stack of three large and precariously balanced containers. Further behind him Tam was slowly making his way down the corridor. Almost invisible behind a stack of 5 containers that almost completely obscured his body.

"We're coming, we're coming. Geeze you're really bossy today." Complained Hibiki

"I'm going on ahead." Called out Dita as she disappeared around a corridor. As Hibiki craned his neck around the stack he was carrying to look at her he noticed that a nearby door was partially open. Curious he paused to look inside as he passed.

This fairly innocent action was to have unforseen consequences.

Peering through the door Hibiki was greeted to the sight of a Female crewmember as she shed a bulky bear suit and stood wearing nothing but her undergarments.

Shocked by this unexpected sight, and yet for some reason strangely drawn to it Hibiki continued to stare.

Unfortunately Tam was unaware of this and he continued to proceed blissfully unaware that Hibiki had stopped. What's more, hearing Dita's call and wishing to be free of his heavy burden Tam had sped up his progress down the corridor. Both men where heavily laden and precariously balanced with the weight of the containers they bore. So it was perhaps unsurprising that the fairly gentle collision between the two sent both men crashing to the floor and their respective burdens flying through the air.

What was unfortunate was that one of the thrown burdens managed to collide with the door entry button causing the door to obediently slide all the way open.

So it was that the female crew member, still wearing nothing but her undergarments, turned around to see two men lying prone in the hallway outside her quarters, both of them gazing up at her after her soft scream of surprise.

The scream that followed could be heard throughout most of the corridors of the Nirvana and seemed to penetrate into the silence of space beyond.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Later Dita and the two men finally managed to get the containers safely delivered to the ships galley and Dita was busily making use of the contents.

"We have to hurry." Said Dita as she stood busily peeling onions. "Paiway is defiantly beginning to suspect something. Mr Alien could you please pass me that bowl over there?"

"I refuse." Said Hibiki from where he sat cross legged on top of two of the containers. His stoic look of denial was somewhat ruined by the large frilly apron that he was wearing over his clothes.

"I am not your servant!"

"Why are you angry now?" asked Dita

"Is it about the apron? You shouldn't be it suits you."

Hibiki suddenly hunched over in embarrassment. "No that has nothing to do with it!"

Dita smiled and went back to peeling onions. "After you helped me I was going to make you a really delicious Hamburger. It's too bad that you don't want too."

Hibiki seemed to shudder for several minutes as if struggling with himself. Then he leaned over and handed her the bowl.

From where he stood watching in the corner Tam smiled. 'Smart girl' he thought. 'She's already found the best way through a man's pride. His stomach'.

Suddenly Tam looked up as he noticed that Dita was about to start cutting up the onions that she had peeled.

"Here Dita let me do that." Said the Older man.

Dita turned over to look at him. "Mr Tam are you sure you know how?"

Tam smiled at her. 'Trust me Dita, if there's one thing I do know its how to use a blade."

With that he picked up the large cutting knife the Red head had been about to use and positioned himself over the cutting board.

He held the blade over the peeled onions and made one slow precise cut. Then suddenly the knife in his hands seemed to blur. His hands moved over the peeled onions rapidly, first in lengthwise then side to side. He moved so fast the Dita could barely see the knife move. In what seemed like moments he was done and a pile of finely chopped onion was all that remained on the board.

Dita looked up at him tears from the onions filling her wide eyes. "Wow Mr Tam what else can you do?"

It was at that moment that unbeknownst to the others Paiway chose to take a photo of Tam and Dita. All of them, even the men were so used to the sound of the camera by now that they barely even noticed it. It was unfortunate that they did not consider what that photo may have looked at to someone else. Dita standing before Tam with tears in her eyes as Tam stood before her a large knife held upright in his hands.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile in one of the crew lounges a tension that had gradually been rising over weeks now simmered just below boiling point. All it needed was a final spark to send it over the edge. The spark was not long in coming.

"I can't take it anymore." Yelled Celtic as she stood before the others in the lounge. The green haired girl was still clad only in her underwear but he had her bear suit clutched before her.

"On so you finally decided to take that thing off." Said Jura. "You look better without it you know."

Celtic when on as if she hadn't spoken. "Are we just going to let the men roam around free now? With no one watching them? Just now I caught two men peeping into my room. Who's to say what else they'll do if we just let them wander around."

Celtic's comment triggered a stir among the assembled women.

"What!"

"You're kidding."

"No way!"

"I told you they couldn't be trusted!"

"This is what happens when we leave men free on the ship!"

Celtic held up the bear head of the costume as she spoke again.

"The only reason I wore this in the first place was to protect myself from contact with the men. I can't stand breathing the same air as the men anymore!"

At one time this may have been dismissed by the others. But after the tension of the last few weeks and after seeing what Tam was capable of at close hand Celtics words merely gave voice to a feeling that had been building among many of the women had been feeling for a long time.

"She's right, what have we been thinking sharing our ship with men."

"They're our enemies, we can't ever forget that!"

"All men our evil. Remember Rabat. He seemed nice at first but then his true colour s as a man."

"And what about that newcomer Tam? We let him go around unguarded we even let min carry weapons! But we've all seen what he's capable of!"

From her seat Meia looked around in alarm. She and the Boss had been hoping that the crew's fear of Tam's new abilities would die down in a time. But from the looks of things something had reignited the anti male sentiment on the ship and the crew's fear of Tam was only adding fuel to the fire. She had to act quickly to calm things down before they got out of hand.

Unfortunately she was too late.

"Hey everyone look at the picture I just took!" called out Paiway.

"I was just up in the Galley and one of the men made Dita cry!"

The assembled crew turned to look at the photo then they gasped in shock.

"What's the man doing with that knife?"

"It looks like he's threatening her!"

"But why would he do that?"

"Look at her why else would she be crying?"

"Everyone settle down!" Yelled out Meia.

The crew turned to stare at the Dread leader as she stood up.

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this. Let's check the security camera in the galley. I'm sure it will show that Dita is alright."

Meia moved over to a computer console and tabbed a few controls. Moments latter a picture of the Galley sprang onto the viewscreen. The crew all crowded around to look, then they frowned in Puzzlement. Dita was standing with her back to a wall of the galley, in her hands she held a cutting board up beside her head. They had a moment to focus on it before a large cutting knife suddenly flew across the room and imbedded itself into the cutting board with a quiver.

Moments later the women could see Tam stride across the room and jerked the knife out of the cutting board in Dita's now trembling hands.

Meia was frozen. Too shocked by what she had seen to speak. But someone else was not. Reaching over Barnette turned off the viewscreen. Instantly every eye turned to her.

"This is what we get for trusting men!" she said. "Dita has been the friendliest of all of us towards the men and look how they repay her. By Terrorising her!

Are we going to stand for this?"

"NO!" Yelled back the assembled crewmembers

"I propose we take back our ship from the men. Who's with me?"

A roar of voices answered her.

Meia watched as Barnette started passing orders among the crew members. What was happening worried her deeply but she knew that there was nothing she could do. What was happening was like an avalanche. Once it has started there was no way to stop it until it had run its course.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

At that same moment the senior command crew were discussing how to deal with the rising tensions on the ship.

"It's become so messy huh?" Said Magno "I guess we can't leave it alone."

"Frankly I'm surprised things went so well for so long." Said Gascognue. "Just asking our girls to deal with Men would have been a big issue. To ask them to do it while under constant attack by these Harvesters is just too much. It was inevitable the tensions would start to rise."

"It's not a big problem." Said BC. "The mother planet is nearby. All we have to do is channel the crew's efforts towards getting back. That should take care of the tension."

"Hmm I'm not sure about that BC. Focusing on getting home may only make them worried about if the Harvesters have already struck there. If there is a home for us to go back to. No I think this problem is more urgent then we previously thought. We have to do something before one of the girls gets it in their heads to take action on their own and …" Suddenly Magno's words were interrupted as the sound of booted feet echoed in the hallways.

"What's that sound?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile in the Galley Tam reached over and jerked the knife he had just thrown out of the cutting board held in Dita's now quivering hands.

He looked down at the girl concerned.

"Dita? Are you ok?"

The girl looked at him wide eyed and then broke into a brilliant smile.

"Wow Mr Tam that was amazing. Do it again. Do it again."

Tam smiled and shook his head.

"No Dita. I shouldn't have let you talk me into doing it the first time. Once is enough."

The redhead looked disappointed. "But why?"

"Because it's dangerous Dita. If I missed or made a mistake I could hurt you badly."

The redhead looked up at him her eyes full of trust.

"But you wouldn't make a mistake Mr Tam."

Tam barked a short laugh. "Even so I'd prefer not to take the risk. Besides don't you owe Hibiki a hamburger now?"

Dita's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh yes Dita forgot. Dita better hurry or Mr Alien will be cross."

Tam smiled as he watched the petite little redhead hurry into the kitchen and start work. He hadn't been keen on helping when Dita had come to the men's quarters earlier that morning. But if he had refused then Hibiki would have refused so he had agreed to help Dita with her 'project' for Paiway's embarkation day.

How he was glad that he had. Over the last few weeks he had not realised how much he had missed this. The simple interaction with other people among the crew. It did his heart good to see that no matter what had happened Dita still liked and trusted him. It gave him hope that eventually the rest of the crew would also come to trust him.

So it was with a smile on his face that Tam settled down into a chair beside Hibiki.

The younger man turned to look at him as he sat down.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"What throw knives?" asked Tam

Hibiki nodded.

"My Grandfather taught me. It was a reward for completing a lesson. He used to make me stand straight with my back to a wall and throw knives at me."

Hibiki looked at him incredulously. "Why did he do that?"

Tam smiled crookedly. "To teach me not to flinch. Once I stopped flinching when he threw the knives he taught me how to throw. By that time I no longer really cared about learning. I was just glad not to be used as target practise anymore. The old mans eyesight was starting to go towards the end. Some of those throws came a little too close for comfort."

Hibiki looked at him for a long moment. "That.. that's not going to be part of my training too is it?"

Tam looked over at him and laughed. "No little brother. I'm certain we can come up with some other way to teach you not to flinch. Although it's not so much of a problem for you as it was for me."

Hibiki looked relieved. Then the two men both turned around as Dita brought over two plates. Hibiki immediately tucked in.

"Hmm" he said between mouthfuls. "This hamburger is great!"

Tam smiled as he watched Hibiki attack his food with gusto. He felt better than he had in days. Not that he was sick or physically unwell. His body remained unnaturally healthy. No rather it was a something else from which he had been suffering, something that could best be described as a sickness of the soul.

Ever since he had recalled the fate of his homeworld. The fate of his people he had been overcome with a sense of guilt. Of shame. Guilt that he still lived while the majority of his people were now dead. Shame that he had not been there to prevent it, to take vengeance on their killers or at the very least to share their fate.

It was those feelings of shame and guilt that had driven him to isolate himself from the rest of the crew. It was those feelings that had caused him to revel in his fight with Rabat. To revel in the pain that he had allowed himself to receive in the hope that physical pain would however briefly, block out the pain he felt in his soul.

He had been falling. Trapped in a prison he himself had crafted of his own twisted feelings. Becoming the creature that he saw himself as. As something to be reviled and scorned. But no more. The old lady had seen to that.

Tam smiled, this time bittersweetly as he recalled his conversation with the captain.

The lady was wise, with the wisdom that only those who had lived a long and hard life could possess. She had seen what he had been doing to himself, as Meia had. But unlike Meia she had known just what to do about it.

Tam smiled again, this time ruefully. As he took in the sight of Hibiki, his mouth crammed full of food, and Dita who hovered over him his smile broadened. And as he took in the scene the weight in his soul lessened a little more.

Yes the old lady had been right. Whatever had happened to his people, it was in the past. He could not change it. But here and now, with the people aboard this ship he could ensure that history did not repeat itself. These people had taken him and he owed them his help. And, he owed it to himself to ensure that what had happened to his homeworld did not happen to the new home he was making here.

It would be difficult. The gulf he had created between himself and the rest of the crew was wide. It would take both time and effort on his part to breach it. But he was not alone, others still accepted him. The old Lady, Gascognue, Dita, Hibiki and Meia. Her most of all. He was confident that with those ones behind him he would eventually be able to bridge the gulf with the rest of the crew. It was not yet insurmountable.

And with this cheerful thought Tam turned his full attention to the meal that Dita had prepared for him. He had barely brought the first bite of it up to his mouth when he found out how wrong he was.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

A sudden 'swish' of sound indicated the opening of the galleys doors. This sound was so normal that no one paid it any mind. What was unusual was the tramp of heavily booted feet that followed it.

Dita, Hibiki and Tam looked up curious as to the strange sound. What they saw caused them all to start in surprise.

Standing just inside the door in a rough crescent was a phalanx of female crewmen. All were dressed in the bulky spacesuits favoured by the women of Majere. All of them were armed and without fail there weapons were pointed at the only two men in the room.

Before the three could react to the utterly unexpected sight a short spacesuited figure spoke out in a voice that was unmistakably Paiway's.

"Dita you aren't allowed to talk to the men anymore!"

"What! What are you saying?" asked the red head in surprise, while the men were too stunned to even respond.

"You find the company of a man more precious than that of a friend right? You Traitor!"

Now it was Dita's turn to stare in shock at the unexpected accusation.

Hibiki and Tam were still thinking about how to respond to this when a taller figure pushed its way to the front of the Phalanx of women. Unlike the others who carried standard issue Laser rifles this one was armed with an odd looking pistol. With a start Tam realised that it resembled an old style projectile weapon. The mystery was explained when he heard Barnette's voice speak out though her suits speakers.

"The crew have come to a decision. No more will we allow ourselves to be polluted and endangered by the presence of Men! It has been decided that you are too dangerous to be allowed to roam free on the ship!"

Tam frowned as he heard this. He knew that his actions on the water planet had caused some unease amongst the crew. And his actions towards the other crewmembers over the last few weeks had hardly helped things. But he was still surprised by the strength of the women's reaction. Composing his feature he tried to calm the situation.

"Barnette what's all this about. None of the men on the ship have endangered any of the women."

At this Barnette turned and pointed her pistol at him.

"Liar! Just minutes ago you threw a knife at Dita's head! Don't bother trying to deny it we all saw you. If you are willing to do that against Dita who knows what you would be willing to do against the rest of us. We are not going to take the risk, you have shown how dangerous you are! You are all going to be locked up for the safety of the crew."

Tam groaned softly and raised his hands to his head. Of everything that had happened on the ship while he had been here that had to have seen that. Now it all made sense. He could see how that action could be misinterpreted by those who were unaware of all the details surrounding it. These women had no way of knowing that he had just been preforming a trick for Dita's amusement.

Still the news was not all bad. It meant that the women were doing this based on a mistaken assumption. In time this could be corrected. Even if it meant they would be locked up for a time, it would only be a short inconvenience.

Unfortunately not everyone felt the same way.

"Stop talking crap! There's no way I'm going to be locked up in a cage again!"

Yelling Hibiki leapt to his feet and made as if to run straight through the blocking women and through the door.

"Hibiki No!" Yelled Tam as he desperately leapt after the younger man to try and stop him. Tam had had a lot of experience around soldiers. He had learnt how to read a persons mood by his body language alone. He could tell that the women were on edge. Nervous, probably of him. They had all seen what he was capable of and were doubtless ready to shoot at a moments notice rather than allow him to get close to them. If Hibiki tried to run through them there was a very good chance that they would shoot him.

Moving so fast he appeared to be boost assisted, Tam surged to his feet and raced after Hibiki. He caught up to the struggling youth and grabbed hold of him, lifting him against his chest to take his feet off the ground. Hibiki kicked and struggled, but Tam held him fast. It may have ended there if not for a number of unfortunate events.

It was unfortunate that Hibiki had elected to run through the women to try to escape. It was unfortunate that the path he had chosen lay almost directly through where Barnette was standing. It was unfortunate that Barnette had a taste for old fashioned pre colonisation projectile weapons rather than the lasers used by the rest of the crew. And it was very unfortunate that the particular automatic pistol that she was holding was long overdue for a regular maintenance and that its trigger mechanism had worn thin.

Just as Tam started to talk to Hibiki to try and calm him down the chatter of voices in the galley was suddenly pierced by a deafening 'BANG'. In the confines of the galley it echoed like the breaking of the world. The air was suddenly filled with the arid stench of gunpowder, and a thin trail of smoke could be seen coming from the barrel of the gun in Barnette's hand as the dying echoes of the gunshot were pierced by the ringing 'Ping' of a spent brass cartridge hitting the floor.

Hibiki suddenly felt Tam's grip loosen. As his feet met the floor he turned around to face the older man. But the angry words he had been about to speak suddenly fled when he looked at Tams face. Tam's eyes were wide, an expression of extreme puzzlement on his face. Above his eyes, on his forehead a small circle of red could be seen. As Hibiki watched the red grew, as blood began to trickle from the bullets entry whole and down Tam's face. Tam reached up to wipe away the blood. He stared down at the red mark on his hand as if uncomprehending. Then he turned to stare at Hibiki, his face still full of confusion and puzzlement. Before he collapsed on his back to the hard metal floor of the galley. As he lay there a curtain of red spread out from behind his fallen head, belying the nature of the wound that had seemed so small.

For a long moment no one moved. All stood transfixed in shock. Unable to believe the scene now before them. Then Hibiki acted.

"Tam? TAM!" He yelled as he fell to his knees beside the older mans body. Desperately shaking him. Trying to find some sign of life. But there was nothing. Tam's body was still. The warmth already beginning to leach out of it.

Behind Tam's body Dita stood transfixed. Softly she stared to ask the other crewwomen. "Why? Why?"

Now the women turned to stare at Barnette seeking instructions, direction. But Barnette also stood transfixed, the pistol shaking in her hand.

She did not like the men. She disliked Tam most of all. But if asked she could honestly have said that she never intended to harm any of them. And now one lay dead at her feet, the smoking gun in her hand.

The other crewwomen looked at one another confused. On one had any idea what to do. Hibiki gave them an answer.

"You Bitch! You killed him!" All thoughts of training of technique were forgotten as Hibiki threw himself at Barnette, determined to make her pay for the death of his friend.

He never even got close. While they might have been shocked the crewwomen were trained pirates. Their bodies knew what to do even if their brains did not. As soon as Hibiki started to move towards Barnette one stepped forward with her rifle reversed and buttstroked him in the gut. As Hibiki folded over clenching at his belly in pain, two more moved forward to grab his arms, forcing them behind his back and holding them there. When they were done they looked up at Barnette.

"What should we do with him now?"

Barnette finally recovered and turned to reply. "Take him down to the brig and lock him in with the others. We'll decide what to do with them later."

"What should we do with the body of the other one?" asked another crewwoman who was standing over Tam's corpse.

Barnette had already turned away. She did not want to think about what she had done. Best to get rid of any reminders of it.

"Toss it out the airlock. There's nothing else we can do." She said as she walked towards the door.

The two crewwomen with Hibiki followed here dragging the struggling man with them.

A little surprised by the coldness in Barnette's voice, the crewwoman who had asked what to do with Tam turned to stare at his body. Almost despite herself she felt sad and a little guilty. Despite the fact that he had been a man he had helped the crew, had fought on their behalf. And he had done some things that had made him appear extraordinary. More than just a mere man. But now it seemed that he was just a man after all. No harder to kill than any other. So with a kind of melancholy she turned to stare down at his face.

Then her eyes widened in shock.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

At the same time in engineering Parfait suddenly turned around in shock.

Power levels over the ship were suddenly dropping. It wasn't by enough to endanger the ship, the overall drop was only about 5. But that still represented a lot of power.

"What's wrong with the Plexis." She called out. "The power levels are dropping!"

"It's not the Plexis chief." Called another of the engineering crew. "Its power output is still stable, something's draining the power before it can get to the ship."

"WHAT?" called out Parfait in shock. The Plexis was tied directly into the ships systems, it sat at the core of the ship. There were no power relays to the Plexis that did not run through the ship. So how could something be draining the Plexis's power before it even got to the ship?

………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was the blood. The blood that covered the floor behind Tam's head. Where once it had slowly spread, a dark stain on the floor where he fell, now it was moving again. Moving back into him. Slowly at first then faster and faster like a building avalanche the blood retreated back towards Tam's body. The crewwoman stared in shock. Unable to move or even speak. Finally the blood was gone, all that remained was the perfect circle of red that stood out on Tam's brow where the bullet had entered. As she watched the flesh around it clenched and pulsed. Until finally a small dark grey shape ejected from the wound and rolled slowly down his face. She watched the wound heal behind it. Gone as if it had never been. Then the bullet hit the floor. It made barely more sound than a that of a dropped pin. But as if it had been a signal Tam's eyes flew open. The crewwoman had a moment to stare into flat vacant gaze that came from his hard brown eyes and then Tamorasp Naghanashar exploded into action.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

His knees drew up and then with a sudden heave of his entire body he sprang to his feet. Before the crewwomen could even begin to react he was upon them. His fists and legs flying in a series of short but brutal blows that sent the women flying across the room. Only then did he turn towards the door and let out his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR!"

In the corridor Barnette and the others paused. They heard the sounds of fists striking flesh and turned their heads curiously. Then they heard Tam's battle cry echo through the corridor and felt a sudden stab of fear. Even forewarned they reacted too late. They were only just beginning to respond when suddenly he was upon them. A brown shape moving so fast he was little more than a blur. He swept into the corridor and made straight for the guards holding Hibiki. The guards started to draw their weapons but by then he was upon them. He pivoted on one leg as he delivered a kick to one, a punch to the other. The hits sent them sprawling to the ground. Pausing only to pick up Hibiki and tuck him under his arm Tam continued on. Straight at Barnette.

The Dread pilot was raising her gun in one hand, in the other she was trying to draw a small knife in case Tam came in close. Neither helped her any. Tam didn't even pause. Instead as he passed her he simply reached out with his other hand and grabbed her face. With a firm shove powered by his own strength and the force of his momentum he sent her crashing to her back against the cold unyielding metal of the deck. Then he continued on his way moving down the corridors of the ship so fast it was hard for the eye to follow.

For a moment Barnette lay prone. Stunned by the blow that had sent her to the deck. Then slowly she reached for the communicator at her belt.

"Alert! Tam and Hibiki have escaped! All security teams be on alert. And whatever you do, don't let them get near the Hangar bays!"

………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile Hibiki was trying hard to come to terms with what had just happened. One minute the women had been leading him to the brig after having killed Tam right in front of him. Then next Tam had come pelting down the corridor, grabbed him and carried him off like he was a sack of beans.

Twisting his head around he turned to Tam to ask what the hell was going on. But when he saw the other mans eyes something stopped him. The eyes were, strange. Curiously vacant. Tam's eyes were always guarded. It was always difficult to know what he was thinking. But now there was an absence in them. As if something vital was missing. But the eyes also gleamed with purpose, as if all of what was left was utterly focused on a single task to the exclusion of all else.

Unwilling to question Tam in his current state Hibiki tried to work out where he was taking him. With a start he realised that the corridors that Tam was choosing all lay on the most direct path to the lower hangar where the Vanguards and the Plexis enhanced Dreads were stored. If Tam was intending to escape the ship that seemed like the best place to go. Their vanguards were the only kinds of ships either of the men knew how to fly. But the hangar was almost at the other end of the ship from where they were. There was almost no chance they would be able to get there without being...

"You there! Halt!" Cried out a female voice.

Hibiki looked up. Twenty meters away he could see a security team of five women blocking the corridor ahead. All wore spacesuits and held Laser rifles in their hands. Hibiki's head slumped in defeat. From this distance there was no way they could get to them before they were shot. Now they would either have to stop and surrender or turn around and try another way. However Tam did neither.

He charged.

Hibiki screamed in protest as Tam ran directly at the waiting women, all the while still holding him firmly under his arm. The women looked stunned for a second, as if unable to believe anyone would be foolish enough to charge a prepared position. They sighted down their rifles and prepared to fire.

Tam had barely made it a third of the way down the corridor when the women prepared to fire. But that was what he had been waiting for. In the instant before the group pressed the firing studs on their rifles Tam suddenly leap upward and sideways. As he jumped he also spun his body so that landed feet first against the left hand wall of the corridor. His feet only made contact with its surface for an instant. But that was all he needed.

In that instant he leapt again this time throwing himself at the ceiling of the corridor. He repeated the manoeuvre twice more, leaping from the ceiling directly over the heads of the security detail and then finally rebounding off the right hand wall of the corridor and using the momentum from that rebound to leap around the corner of the corridor out of sight of the security team.

To the women his movements were no more than a blur. Just before they fired they saw him leap to their right, causing all of their shots to miss and spend themselves harmlessly against the metal of the corridor. As they desperately shifted their aim all they saw was a brown, black and orange blur passover their heads. Some of the fastest of them even managed to turn around in time to see that blur ricochet down the corridor and round the corner out of sight. But none were fast enough to get off a shot in that time.

For a moment the five women just stood their blinking as their minds struggled to come to terms with what had just happened. Then slowly their leader reached for her communicator to reluctantly let Barnette know that the men had gotten away.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Barnette slammed her fist against a counter in frustration as the news from the squad leader reached her. All the other security teams had been sent to guard other areas or approach routes to the bays. There was no one else between the men and the lower hangar! And if they got to that hangar there was no telling how much damage they could do with their Vanguards.

Quickly she reached fro her communicator. "Celtic this is Barnette. The men are heading for the lower hangar. Seal it off immediately. We can't allow them to get to their Vanguards!"

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile Hibiki was struggling not to be sick. Tam's speed combined with his impromptu acrobatics was having a really bad effect on his stomach, particularly on the meal that he had wolfed down bare minutes ago. His stomach received another jolt when Tam suddenly slammed to a halt.

For a few minutes Hibiki was focussed on controlling his churning guts. Then he looked up and realised where they were. They were standing before the main entrance to the hangar. But the normally automatic doors were now shut fast against them. Hibiki watched as Tam slammed his fist repeatedly against the door open control to no effect. 'The women must have activated the emergency overrides to force shut the bay doors' he realised. 'Maybe I can override the command'. He turned to Tam to tell him his idea when suddenly a voice burst out from the speakers over the door control.

"Men, the hangar bay has been sealed. You have no chance to escape. Get down on the floor with your hands up or the first security team to reach you will shoot you on sight!"

But Tam had a different idea. Hibiki watched as he reached behind his back and pulled out the oddly bent knife that he always carried. His 'Kukri'. Tam usually left his other weapons and armour in his Vanguard. But the kukri never left his side. As he watched Hibiki saw the blade suddenly glow blue around the edges. The sign that its monofilament field had been activated.

Tam knelt down the Kukri gripped tightly in his right hand. Then he plunged the blade point first into the door, just where the bulkhead met the floor. The blade entered the metal like a hot knife entering butter, there was almost no resistance. Quickly Tam moved the blade upward and finally around and down, cutting a wide hole in the door. As soon as Tam had finished cutting he reached out and pushed at the door. Almost immediately the cut section fell outward to land with a thundering crash inside the bay. All in all the door had held them up for perhaps 30 seconds. Now they were in the Vanguard bay.

Without pausing Tam started running through the Bay. As they approached his partner Hibiki started to think of something to say to stop Tam. But before he could speak Tam's grip suddenly loosened and he found himself dumped to the floor in from of his partner. Hibiki started to complain at the rough treatment, then he looked up into Tam's eyes. They were cold, vacant. Like something essential had been removed from them. But their gaze was iron hard. In a quick abrupt motion Tam pointed at Hibiki's cream and gold Vanguard and then turned away and started to walk towards the Black and Silver machine he had claimed as his own.

Hibiki got the message.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Minutes later one of the Bridge crew detected two fast moving objects suddenly leave the Nirvana, moving in the opposite direction to its current course.

"Id's confirmed. It's the Vanguards, the men have escaped!"

From her place on the bridge BC sighed deeply. Everything had happened so fast. One minute the Captain, Gascognue and herself had been discussing how to deal with the rising tensions among the crew. The next they had emerged to find that those tensions had already reached boiling point and the crew under Barnette had taken matters into their own hands. Now they were in a potentially disastrous situation. Without the two men they their ability to defend themselves would be severely hampered. She could only hope that she could talk the two men back aboard.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Hibiki jerked in his cockpit as BC's face suddenly appeared on one of his screens.

"Tam, Hibiki, what are you doing. Please return to the Nirvana at once."

But Hibiki was having none of it.

"I'm not going back to the cellar again! Goodbye!" He shouted as he increased the power to his Vanguards thrusters. Behind him Tam's Vanguard did the same. Silently following as he had done since they left the hangar.

Back on the Nirvana's bridge Magno frowned and shook her head. Beside her BC continued to try to contact Tam, hoping to appeal to the older mans sense of duty. But the image of Tam on the view screen ignored her completely. Nevertheless she kept trying until both of the Vanguards passed out of communications range. While the Nirvana, unable to change course without its pilot at the helm, continued on its way.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the dread bay, Meia smacked her palm against a bulkhead as she watched Duero and Bart being escorted into a cell on a nearby monitor.

Last she had heard, Tam and Hibiki had been able to reach their Vanguards and escape the ship. But this was hardly good news. If they had been captured then there was at least the possibility that this whole mess could have been sorted out. As things were now it was becoming increasingly unlikely the two men would be able to rejoin the Nirvana.

"This is not the time for this." Said Meia to herself. "Just when we should be standing together we are tearing each other apart."

One action in particular hurt more than she cared to admit. Pressing a button she watched the two Vanguards until they disappeared out of range.

'Tam why did you run off like that?' She thought to herself as unfamiliar emotions assaulted her heart. Suddenly a voice pierced her thoughts.

"Leader!"

Meia turned to see Dita run into the bay. Her eyes widened in surprise. The redhead was breathing heavily, her eyes were wide in shock and she appeared to be trembling.

"Dita what's wrong? What happened?"

In a shuddering voice Dita told her. About the events that had taken place in the Galley, all of them.

As she listened Meia felt her own eyes widen in shock. And with fear. Suddenly the likelihood that they would see the two men again, already slim, now seemed non existent.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

A few hours later, now far away the two Vanguards could be seen flying through space. Hibiki's was in the lead. Tam's flying slightly behind.

In his cockpit Hibiki stared at the image of Tam's machine and frowned.

He had tried numerous times to contact Tam since their escape from the Nirvana. But he had received no reply at all from the other man.

That was worrying. Escaping through space with Tam as a companion was one thing. Escaping with this mindless zombie that Tam seemed to have become was quite another. Still confused Hibiki let his mind wander over the sudden turn of events that had lead to their desperate escape.

'What happened?' He though to himself. 'What made them so angry all of a sudden?"

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a low groan coming over the communications channel.

"Tam! Tam are you there? Tam its Hibiki can you hear me?"

He head another groan and then to his intense relief a familiar voice.

"Hibiki? What happened little brother? How did I get in my Vanguard? And why are we flying alone in space?" Tam's voice sounded groggy, like he was just waking up from a deep sleep, but at least he sounded aware.

"What's the last thing that you remember?" Asked Hibiki.

"We were in the Galley." Said Tam. "Then suddenly some of the women burst in with spacesuits and guns. Barnette had a gun pointed at me and then…" His voice suddenly trailed off. "She shot me." Said Tam finally his voice full of disbelief.

"Yes." Said Hibiki. "Do you remember what happened after that?"

"Yes but its weird, like a dream. I can remember what happened but it doesn't feel like I was the one doing it. Very surreal."

Then Hibiki asked the question he had been bursting to ask.

"But Tam how did you manage to do that. I mean she shot you in the head! How did you survive that?"

Tam sighed deeply. "I honestly don't know little brother. It must be another one of my abilities, but I've never had such a serious wound heal so quickly before. I guess…" Suddenly Tam's voice broke off. He felt something at the edge of his senses. A sensation akin to the hairs on his neck standing on end, but subtly different. Something was out there.

"Hibiki break right. Evade!" Yelled Tam as he suddenly plunged his Vanguard into a series of desperate twists and turns.

"What?" Hibiki yelled in surprise as he watched Tam's random manoeuvres. He was about to ask the other man what the hell he was doing when suddenly an alarm sounded through his vanguards systems. Instinctively Hibiki sent his Vanguard into a series of evasion manoeuvres, similar to Tam's. Just in time.

For the space around them was suddenly lit up by the deadly flashes of heavy laser beams. They were under attack.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Both Tam and Hibiki ducked and weaved. Moving their Vanguards in an intricate dance that they were both now long used to. But they were not used to avoiding this volume of fire. Tam, his senses still feeling supernaturally acute, managed to successfully keep his Vanguard out of the beams. Hibiki wasn't so lucky. As he desperately rolled his Vanguard trying to avoid the beams one of them caught him a glancing blow on the Vanguards right pauldron. Armour and machinery melted and fused under the force of the beam and Hibiki screamed in pain as he felt pain flash through his own arm.

But the pain also awakened his determination. Bringing his Vanguard to a halt Hibiki twisted it in space and then sent it charging ahead at full speed. Directly at the unknown attackers.

"Hibiki wait!" yelled Tam, but it was useless, so cursing under his breath Tam sent his own Vanguard in pursuit of Hibiki's reckless charge.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Close by, in a brightly lit control room a number of people worked feverishly at a series of computer terminals.

"Hurry up with the identification!" called out a voice.

"Captain these units are not in the database. We have no record of them being encountered before."

Suddenly a female voice cried out. "Captain, I'm picking up individual human life signs from each of the contacts!"

"What?" Responded the first voice.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile Hibiki continued his headlong charge. Ducking and weaving between the beams as he closed in on the attackers.

Behind him Tam desperately tried to keep up and dodge the incoming fire at the same time.

As they got closer, they could finally make out the shape of their attackers.

A number of sleek ships filled the voice before them. Like a pod of whales in space. Amongst the swarm of larger capital ships could be made out the smaller shapes of gunboats and fighters.

Tam tried to assess the ships as they got closer. There were at least a dozen f the bigger ships and who knew how many fighters out there. Given what little they had seen of their capabilities so far there was no way that he and Hibiki could take on all of them alone.

Hibiki however appeared to feel differently.

"Come on! Come on. Put the up!" he yelled.

Before Tam could berate him another face appeared on their view screen's. That of an unfamiliar man in a strange cockpit.

"Who are you?" asked the newcomer. "Why are you trespassing in this area?"

"We're travellers." Interjected Tam quickly before Hibiki could speak.

"We were unaware that this area of space was claimed by someone. IF we are trespassing we apologise."

The figure frowned. "Travellers? Where are you from?"

Tam was trying to form a diplomatic reply when Hibiki burst out. "We're from Taraaku. Got a problem with that?"

"Taraaku?" said the figure in surprise.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile on the Nirvana. Things were slowly reverting to a more normal state. Most of the crew had returned back to their regular duty stations with the exception of the men who were still locked up.

Magno was busy sorting through the mess of events that had led to the almost mutiny. She was just getting Dita's version of the events that had taken place in the galley.

The old lady leaned back with a deep sigh as she heard the last of it.

"Aahhh so that's what happened. Well we definitely have a problem."

"Boss!" called Dita over the view screen imploringly in her childish hope that the captain would be able to make everything right.

Suddenly Meia interjected. "Boss if you authorise it shall I mount a search to go and find them?"

Magno and BC looked at each other in surprise. There would have been a time when Meia would have been the last one they expected to show concern some missing men. Even if they were part of the crew.

Magno waited a minute before responding.

"Prep your dread team for a long range search. Be ready to head out on my order."

Meia nodded in reply and cut the comm..

"Are you sure that's wise Boss?" asked BC. "Tensions are still pretty high. Until we get everyone calmed down I don't think anyone's going to react well to the news that we're sending people out to search for the missing men."

"I know." Replied Magno. "But it will keep her busy for a while. And regardless of what the crew thinks we need the men back. We are going to be too vulnerable without them."

BC nodded then stood thinking for a moment. Finally she spoke.

"What about what Dita said, about what happened to Tam? If she's right about what he did.."

Magno raised a hand stopping her from speaking further

"We don't know what happened there for certain. There was plenty of confusion at the time. It may have been that people mistook what they saw or saw things that didn't really happen."

"And if what they saw really did happen?" Asked BC

"We'll deal with that later." But deep down she found the news disturbing as BC had.

'Tamorasp Naghanashar' she thought. 'What are you?'

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile Tam and Hibiki were being escorted to the Bridge of the flagship of the fleet they had encountered.

Tam had been a little suspicious when the commander of the fleet said that he wanted to speak to them in person. Part of him thought it was just a ploy to capture them and their ships intact. But the commander had offered to help repair HIbiki's Vanguard and give them some supplies, which they desperately needed.

HE had also permitted them to come armed which clinched the deal for Tam.

So it was they stood on the elevator platform that had raised them to the bridge. Flanked by two security officers in brightly coloured baggy flight suits. Hibiki as always wearing his orange and black workers gear. And Tam dressed in his black body armour. Sword at his back and disrupter at his side.

As they arrived at the bridge Hibiki looked around curiously. The bridge was like a vast dome. Through it they could see out into the space around them, easily noting the other ships in the fleet close by.

It was dotted with computer terminals comprised of two side by side workstations occupied by two people. Something appeared odd about the arrangement but he couldn't put his finger on it. Then it struck him.

Every workstation was occupied by a man and a woman. In each case a man and a woman were working side by side. The unfamiliar sight struck him speechless.

Suddenly he noticed that his gaze was being returned by the people all over the bridge.

"What?" He asked. "Why are you all looked at us like that?" He called defensively

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Tam standing beside him.

"Settle down little brother. I'm sure that they are just curious about us. As we are about them." He said turning to face an older man who occupied a single workstation at the centre of the bridge."

The older man smiled at them.

"Please excuse us for the rough treatment you received at our hands. But with the Harvesters approaching we have been very nervous of any ships entering our area of space."

Tam cocked his head at the man. The same fleet commander they had spoked to earlier

"You know of the Harvesters?"

"Yes, we have heard of them from survivors from other worlds that managed to reach us. We decided not to wait for them to come and take us so we have built these ships to act as a defensive line. We will fight to the last to protect out people."

Tam was quietly impressed. These people were far different from the sheep like folk they had met on Anpatos. These people looked ready to make a fight of it. Although he noted from their appearance and that of their ships, they were obviously fairly inexperienced at war.

Suddenly Hibiki spoke out. "Defensive line? But being passive is a mistake! You should attack them before they can attack you!" Hibiki fell silent as Tam's hand dropped to his shoulder again.

"Yes little brother, but being on the defensive has certain advantages. You know the area and can use that to your advantage. Besides you can only take the fight to an enemy when you know where he is and space is a big place."

Hibiki looked at Tam grumpily but subsided. Meanwhile the commander gave Tam a calculating look.

"It sounds like you have some experience with fighting?" he said.

Tam shrugged. "I served in my worlds military. We're only here because an accident left us stranded in deep space. We're both a long way from home."

"I see." Said the commander. "Our world had no military before the harvester threat became known to us. We have largely been making this up as we go along. I was wondering would you.."

"Id be happy to share any information we have on the Harvesters weapons and tactics with you. If you are willing I might also be able to provide some advice on how you can mount the most effective defence."

"Excellent, it seems that we have much to discuss then."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Some time later Hibiki stood before his partner in one of the ships hangar bays. Tam was still meeting with the commander and the other captains of the fleet. They had been talking for hours and eventually Hibiki had gotten bored and said that he was going to go and check on his partner.

He stared at the scored and breached armour on its left arm and lifted his own hand to feel the small cut that mirrored it on his own arm. Was the injury just a coincidence? Or was it something more.

A sudden voice behind him made him turn.

"You first." Said a female voice behind him

Hibiki turned to see a young woman in a light purple jump suit coming towards him with some kind of spray can in her hand.

"Show me your arm." She said and then without waiting for him to comply, moved closer and took a hold of his injured arm.

"Hey what are you doing." Called out Hibiki in surprise. In his experience it was almost known for a woman to willingly touch a man, other than to inflict harm. Even his time among the pirates had done little to lessen this.

But the woman just took it all in her stride. "It's ok." She said. "Just leave it to me, ok?" She smiled reassuringly as she spoke. Then she started to spray his wound with the can in her hand.

Hibiki stared at her. Unsure what to make of her actions. Then he winced as he felt biting cold where the spray had touched his arm. But then after a few moments the bite of the cold subsided and the pain from the wound was gone.

"I'm Seran by the way." Said the woman. "I'm the ships mechanic. What's your name?"

"H .. Hibiki." He said after a while.

For several more minutes he just watched as Seran worked on bandaging his arm. Hibiki didn't know what to make of the caring and open way that the mechanic had acted with him. Never in his life had he experienced any thing like it. Certainly not on the pirates ship. Not even on Taraaku. He found her presence calming, peaceful in a way he had never known before.

"There that should do it." Seran said as she made the final knot in the bandage on his arm. "Hmm aren't you going to say thank you?" she asked as she smiled at him.

Hibiki looked at her in surprise then reddened in embarrassment. After a moment he managed to stutter out a quick. "Thanks."

But Seran showed no signs of being offended. She just laughed and said. "You're welcome."

Suddenly another voice interrupted them.

"Pilot is the wound on your arm ok?" Hibiki turned to see the face of the man that had originally hailed them. Although now he was standing right before him.

"Leader" called Seran in greeting.

"It's nothing serious." Replied Hibiki "Just this."

The other pilot smiled. "I'm sorry about what we did. We'll also repair that damage to your mecha immediately."

"I'll help out too." Said Hibiki. "No one knows my Partner like I do."

The pilot smiled and nodded.

"Well before that then." Said Seran as she picked up two drink bulbs "Lets take a break. Here drink this it's a speciality of mine"

She handed one of the bulbs to Hibiki and then moved to stand next to the pilot.

Hibiki looked at the drink bulb then stared at the male pilot confused.

"Go ahead and drink." He said. "Although I can't guarantee the taste will be to your liking."

"Hey!" said Seran indignantly. "Here you need to drink too!" And so saying she reached out and took hold of one of the pilot's hands, placing the drink bulb firmly within it.

Hibiki stared at the two in surprise. Never before had he seen such easy familiarity between a man and a woman. A strange through began to form in his mind.

"Hey are you guys, are you always together? Men and women I mean."

The other two looked at him in surprise.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked the pilot "We're brother and sister, we've been together since birth."

That response raised more questions than it answered. Hibiki absently took a sip of the drink as he tried to think things through. It provoked a reaction that derailed his train of though completely.

"Ack" He spluttered and than spat out a mouthful of the drink he had been taking in surprise. "What is this?" he asked looking down at the drink he held.

"It's a mix of vitamin B and C. It's good for your skin." Said Seran.

"For the skin?" said Hibiki in surprise.

"Yeah." Responded the pilot. "On Melanos it has always been our custom to take very good care of our skin. It was only recently we learned that that was what the Harvesters were after. They're coming to collect our skins."

Hibiki was about to ask about this further when suddenly an alarm started blaring throughout the ship. He looked up in surprise. Seran and the pilot also looked up in shock.

"They're finally here." Said the pilot.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge Tam had spent the last few hours in conference with the fleet commander and the other captains of the Melanos fleet. He had gone over all the information he had about the Harvesters with them. Their weaponry and tactics. They had been familiar with most of the Harvester machines that he had described. But they had lacked very little data about their tactics or how best to counter them.

Tam had tried them in as best he could, trying to apply information from his own experiences to capabilities that they described their own ships as possessing.

But even as he did so he felt a twinge of despair. Although these people had made a great effort to build and man this fleet. Although they stood here now willing to give their lives to defend their home. Part of him knew that it would not be enough.

To put it simply they were too new at this. They had little or no experience with war. Particularly against an enemy as ruthless and adaptive as the harvesters.

Some of the designs for their ships and weapons weren't bad. But they lacked the knowledge at how to build machines that would be able to stand up the crucible of battle. The bridge he was standing on was a classic example. It offered the crew a great view of the space outside the ship. But it also made an incredibly tempting target. A strike against the bridge was likely to cripple the ship and he didn't want to think about how quickly this fleet would go down once the harvesters realised that weakness and focussed on it.

Tam sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes. He had been jotting down ideas into a data pad he had borrowed. The good news was that much of the combat capability of the ships in the fleet could be vastly improved with just a few major modifications. The bad news was that he did not think that there would be time to implement those modifications. As if responding to his thought a sudden alarm sounded out over the bridge.

"Captain we're reading a massive object moving towards Melanos. It's the Harvesters They're here!"

"All ships to Battle stations!" Yelled out the fleet commander.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In space a massive object slowly made its way towards the waiting Melanos fleet. It was vaguely cylindrical, shaped like a sea urchin, but running lights ran down its length and it throbbed with power.

Suddenly from its sides dozens of smaller shapes started to detach themselves and move forwards ahead of the main vessel. As they got closer they could be identified as Harvester seed ships. Hundreds of them.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

In the Hangar bay Hibiki stared in shock at the image of the massive ship from where he had hacked into the bridge terminal.

"What.. What is that?" he asked in shock. "That's the first time I've seen something that big."

Seran looked over his shoulder. Her gaze now fixed and determined.

"We're only heard about them but it looks like the description of one of the Harvesters main capital ships. They're supposed to be very tough."

"You guys intend to fight that thing?" he asked.

"If we don't fight we'll only be harvested." Replied Seran. "Until that happens we'll never give up trying to survive.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge of the flagship the fleet commander gave the order to engage.

"Fire cannons." He yelled.

Instantly the ships of the fleet opened up with their main batteries. Massive beams of incandescent light crossed the void to impact against the oncoming seed ships.

At the same time fighters from the Melanos fleet moved forwards around the corridors of fire laid down by their mother ships to engage the incoming cube fighters.

Individual fighters dived at waves of on coming cubes. Letting fly with cannons and missiles. Many cube fighters were taken out by their attacks, but as they passed through the cube formations many of the Melanos fighters were also destroyed by the swarming mass of cubes.

On the bridge of the flagship Tam cursed as he saw the losses the fighter waves were suffering.

"They're getting to close!" he said out loud.

The fleet commander looked at him questioningly.

"They're getting to close to the cube formations when they attack. The harvester cube fighters are built primarily for close range attacks. Tell your people to keep in formations and break off their runs before they pass through the cube formations."

The commander frowned but then nodded and began to pass orders to the fighter squadrons. Tam turned back to the tactical plot. As he watched he saw the fighters break away and start to obey the new orders. Their kill ratios started to improve, but for many it was already too late.

Elsewhere one of the fleet's destroyers suddenly bucked then exploded as it was overwhelmed by a swarm of cube fighters. As he watched the plot Tam saw another group of cube fighters make a run at another destroyer. Its guns took out several of the attackers. But not enough. Suddenly the Cubes halted just before the hull of the destroyer. Tam watched smaller blips detach themselves from the cubes and impact against the hull of the ship.

'Missiles?' he thought 'or'.

"Commander we're getting reports from some of the ships in the fleet. Harvester machines have some how gotten aboard the ships. They're attacking the crew members!"

'Damn' thought Tam. 'Breaching pods!'

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Aboard several of the ships in the fleet explosions suddenly ripped through corridors adjacent to the hull as the breaching pods impacted. When the smoke from the explosions cleared it was often to reveal a farm more terrifying sight. Phalanxes of Harvester machines marching into the ship. Desperately crew members tried to hold them back with whatever weapons they had at hand. But it was useless. The machines were armoured against all but the heaviest weapons and they marched forward without pause. Any defender, who was unable to get out of their way, was added to the Harvest.

………………………………………………………………………………………

On the bridge of the flagship the reports of the bridge crew grew increasingly alarmed.

"Enemy to starboard. Concentrate fire!"

"Armour is breaking!"

"Enemy breaching pod detected! It's heading for the bridge!"

This caused even the fleet commander to look around in shock. Moments latter a wall at the back of the bridge blew inwards. From the smoke and the dust a troop of blood red Harvester machines marched forward.

Some of those on the bridge gaped in shock. Others reached for weapons with shaking hands or trembled in fear. But one charged forward yelling his battle cry.

"SHANDRAKOR." Tam met the harvester machines head on, swinging he great sword in two hands. The boost thundered through his system and armour that had stood up to bullets and low level energy fire was sliced and shattered under the force of that blade and the fury of the man who wielded it.

Minutes latter it was all over and the bridge crew stared in shock of a very different kind as they watched Tam sheath his sword in the baldric across his back as he stood in a pile of shattered harvester machine parts.

Turning Tam walked over to the captain and held something out to him. The man flinched before he realised that it was only the data pad Tam had borrowed earlier.

"Here" he said. "I've put down everything I could think of that might help improve your chances against the Harvesters. Most of it can't be done now. But if we survive this battle we might get a chance. Speaking of which, you have to tighten up this formation. Your ships are too spread out. They're so far apart they can't support each other effectively. That's why the cubes are getting through your defences so easily."

Intimidated as he was the fleet commander was by no means a weak man. He found his voice and protested.

"But if we tighten our formations we'll limit our offensive firepower. Too many of our ships will be in each others way!"

"Yes." Replied Tam. "But they will also survive longer and might have the opportunity to knock out more of those seed ships before they get taken down. In any case it's your decision commander. I've done all I can here. Time for me to get to my Vanguard and take this fight to the enemy."

So saying Tam strode over to the elevator and pressed the button for the hangar bay.

"Luck be with you warrior." Said the commander as Tam disappeared out of sight. Tam saluted, fist to chest in reply.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Meanwhile in the hangar bay, Seran and Hibiki were desperately trying to fix the damage to Hibiki's Vanguard so that he could join the battle.

Finally Hibiki closed the panel he was working on.

"This sides finished." He said "I'm heading out!"

"Wait." Called Seran. "I just have a little more to finish here."

"I will definitely get this done in time." Said Seran apparently to herself, here eyes full of determination.

Hibiki could only stare at her in admiration. "There done!" she suddenly called out.

"Thanks for waiting, you're ready for launch." She said as she gave him a thumbs up.

"Give it your best!"

"Leave it to me!" said Hibiki as he scrambled to get inside the cockpit. That action saved his life. No sooner had he entered the sheltered confines of the cockpit then there was a massive explosion in the hangar bay. Shrapnel flew across the bay and a thick cloud of smoke filled it.

For a moment Hibiki could only stare in shock, then he started to call out his voice near panic.

"Seran? SERAN!"

He yelled as he searched the bay for her. Willing her to still be alive. She was bit only barely.

He finally found her battered body amidst a clutch of broken machinery. He knelt by her hoping that she was ok. But he already knew that she was not. Her body was blackened and burned. Some of her limbs were at odd angles and worst of all several large pieces of metal were protruding from her torso.

Nevertheless he knelt over her, willing her to wake up. "Hey hang on." He yelled as he tried to check for a pulse. And surprisingly when she felt his touch she turned to face him. But when she did so her eyes were glazed.

"Every..Everyone." She said in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

"I wonder if everyone's ok." Then she shuddered and her eyes closed for the last time.

Hibiki stared down at her body. Disbelief etched on his face.

"You.. You're joking right? It's a joke right" He all but pleaded with the body. But the body that had once been Seran made no response

That was how Tam found him as he ran through the hangar bay calling his name. Sitting hunched over the body of a woman who had in such a short space of time become a friend. Unshed tears in his eyes.

"Hibiki." Yelled Tam as he grabbed his shoulder. "Little brother com on we have to go."

"She died." Said Hibiki numbly. "Just like that, so easily she died. After I had only just met her."

Tam looked down in despair. This was likely the first death that the lad had seen and he had no time to deal with it the way he would have liked to. They needed to get out there or they were all dead. But it already sounded like Hibiki was falling into shock. So the only thing to do was to shock him back out of it.

Tam suddenly grabbed Hibiki by the shoulders and jerked him to his feet before him. His body was as limp as a rag dolls. It was only Tam's grip that kept him upright. Tam leaned in close to stare into his face.

"Hibiki listen to me. She's gone, there is nothing you can do about that now. All we can do is try and make sure that her death had some meaning. She volunteered to be here because she wanted to protect her world from the harvesters. We cant bring her back but we can help make sure that that happens. We can help protect her world and we can make them pay for what they did to her."

For several long moments Hibiki made no response. As if Tam's words had not reached him. Then he let out a harsh broken whisper.

"Make them pay… for what they did. Yess"

Suddenly he jerked out of Tam's hands and set off for his Vanguard at a run. He moved so fast that even with his longer legs Tam had to struggle to keep up.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

In space the battle was becoming more and more desperate. Despite their new tactics the Melanos fighter groups were still being whittled down by the Harvester cube fighters. And there was a lot more of the cube fighters.

Despite their new formation the capital ships were also taking a beating. They were now in close formation each ship having others above it or at its sides. This let them provide far more supporting fire to each of the other ships in the formation. But they needed it. The cube fighters were now making their attack runs in waves and despite the increase in their defensive capabilities. The cubes were still getting through.

On the bridge crewmembers cried out in alarm as another explosion rocked the flagship.

"Don't Falter." Called out the voice of the commander. Still strong without a trace of fear or doubt. "Show them our will"

And so they did. Despite the damage they had suffered. Despite the increasing attacks that came against them not one of the ships in the fleet turned away. They held their course and continued firing at their enemies.

Suddenly two stops of light shot away from the command ship and headed for the middle of the battle. S they got closer the shape of two Vanguards could be made out. One Black and one Gold.

………………………………………………………………………………………

In his Vanguard Hibiki continued to repeat a sentence like a mantra.

"That simple. That simple."

Then as he approached the swarming cube fighters his mantra turned into a battle cry.

"That Simple to DIE!" he cried out in a voice of mixed pain and anguish. As he did so he engaged his Vanguards weapons unsheathing one of its two swords and then turning and slashing at the nearest cube fighter. Cutting it in two. But he did not stop there. He kept going, plunging himself into the mist of the cubes. Hacking and slashing with his blades. And they fell before him, like wheat before a scythe. And as he fought he continued to yell in what was half a battle cry and half a scream of pain.

In his own Vanguard Tam winced as he saw Hibiki move. He recognised what had happened to the younger man. He was berserk. His grief and his rage had pushed him over the edge. There was nothing for it now, but to let him ride out the grief and try to keep him alive while he did so. So drawing his Vanguards blade Tam plunged into the fray to help his little brother.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

They moved together in a deadly dance. Hibiki all rage and fury, charging straight at the thickest concentrations of the enemy. Tam icy concentration and skill, followed at his side and tried to protect him from any threats he could not see. And together they were unstoppable. Cube after cube fell under their relentless onslaught. So much so that many of the cubes were forced to break off their assault on the Melanos fleet and focus their attention on the new threat. But this just gave Hibiki more targets on which to vent his rage.

On the bridge of the command ship the commander noticed a sudden lessening in the enemies attack. He looked at the tac plot and saw the carnage the two Vanguards were wreaking in the centre of the enemy attack. Which gave them an opening.

"Those two." He said. "Quickly everyone follow the two newcomers. Punch a hole in their fleet so we can strike at the capital ship."

Around the fleet captains moved to obey. The remaining ships, little over half what there had once been closed their formation and pushed forward. Fight at the heart of the harvester force.

But this was a mistake.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

As the Melanos fleet drew closer the Harvester ship suddenly pulsed with power. Incandescent light shone against its hull for a brief moment and then burst forth.

In his vanguard Tam felt the sudden build up of power. It touched a thread in his mind. It was familiar and yet it was not for a moment he felt something tingle in the back of his mind as a memory long buried stirred. But then his instincts reasserted themselves and he threw his vanguard into a desperate roll. Just in time to narrowly avoid a massive blast of energy that flew from the Harvester ship to crash against on of the ships of the Melanos fleet.

For a moment the ship was bathed in white light. Like a halo. But them the moment passed and when it did the ship was simply gone. Nothing of it remained. It had been completely destroyed.

Hibiki turned to stare in shock at the sudden destruction behind him. His eyes were locked on the fiery explosion of what he knew moments before had been another ship. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the Cube fighter coming straight at him.

"Look Out!" Yelled Tam as he rushed to intercept the oncoming fighter. Spearing it neatly threw the centre with his Vanguards sword he tossed hit away over his shoulder. Causing it to explode some distance away.

"Little brother are you alright?" called Tam his voice worried.

"All those people. All that death." Said Hibiki. "Just like with Seran. It can't happen any more. I Won't let It Happen Any more! YAAAAAHHHH"

And with a massive cry he hurled himself directly at the oncoming Harvester ship. Directly into the Path of its guns.

"Hibiki NOOO!" Yelled Tam as the cream and Gold Vanguard made its suicidal run. And then cursing Tam sent his black and silver straight after it.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

The bridge of the flagship was a sea of chaos. Fires and smoke from damaged circuits made it hard to breath.

The commander coughed as he tried to drawn air into his lungs.

"What's our status?"

"We're down to nine ships and all of them are damaged. There's no way we can survive even a couple of more hits like that last one!"

Briefly the commander wondered why no one had ever told hi, about the Harvester ships main weapon. A moment later the obvious answer came to him. Because no one had ever survived it.

"What about those two newcomers where are they?" he asked.

"At the moment they're.. they're heading straight for the Harvester capital ship!"

"What!" Yelled the commander as he turned to stare at the oncoming ship in shock.

………………………………………………………………………………………

In space Tam's Vanguard was slowly catching up to Hibiki's. It shouldn't have been possible. Tam's was just a stock standard Taraaku Vanguard. It had never been upgraded by the Plexis like Hibiki's had. But nevertheless Tam willed his machine to go faster. And somehow it responded.

But even as he caught up with Hibiki he felt it would be too late. Deep, deep in the back of his mind. Behind the back brain, behind his subconscious. He could feel the Harvester ship gathering power for another blast. Even as he reached Hibiki, even as he grabbed his vanguard with the arms of his own he felt the Harvester ship fire. Felt the oncoming energy wave that was headed straight at them and knew that it would destroy them utterly.

In the least seconds before it struck Tam twisted in space. Putting his vanguard between Hibiki's and the blast even though he knew it would do no good.

Then he felt the blast hit. In milliseconds he felt the barest wave, the front of its storm strike his Vanguard. He felt metal and machinery melt and buckle under the force of the blast. Felt the pain of it as it were affecting his own flesh and blood. And in that moment driven by desperation, by desire, by duty and fuelled by pain and passion he plunged at that hidden area that deep dark area in his mind. And dived in deeper than he ever had before.

Down and down he plunged. Beyond barriers he had never dared to test, rivers he had never dared to cross. He sensed much down their. Memories and knowledge. Clues to his past that he desperately wanted to know, but he had no time for that now. Down and down he plunged until he found it. A deep reservoir of power. Like a silent ocean in the back of his mind. He knew that it was his, knew that there was very little that he could not do with it. But his time was short and so he acted on instinct, gathered up as much of that power as he could and channelled it.

In the moments before the beam from the Harvester ship struck the two vanguards. In the nanoseconds between when the front of its wave was already striking the two machines and when the main wave struck. Something happened.

A portal was opened and a wall was breached. A like was made between the materially universe and something far different. And from that doorway emerged a tidal wave of power.

It burst forth, untameable and unstoppable. It Collided with the beam from the harvester ship and ate it whole. Adding its power and its fury to into own. Then it followed the beam back to its source. The surge of power struck the harvester ship with the force of a directed supernova. Armour and hull plates vaporised instantly under the force of the beam. It continued down the length of the ship. Such was its force that the shockwave did not even have time to shake the ship apart before its parts were vaporised. Even when the ships destruction was complete the wave's fury was not spent. It travelled onwards for light years through the gulf of space until finally its fury exhausted itself deep in the cold blackness between the stars.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the bridge of the Melanos flagship the crew could only stare in shock. One minute the Harvester ship had been bearing down on them and they had been preparing them selves to die under the fury of its main gun. Seconds later in a flash of light beyond anything they had seen before. The harvester ship and most of the seed ships were simply gone.

The fleet commander was the first to come to his senses. "Tactical, is there any sign of our two new friends?"

"No sir I can pick up no trace of them?" Said the crewman after a moment.

"Sir," asked a crew woman hesitantly. "What do we do now?"

"Contact all ships and remaining fighters. There are still cubes and seed ships out there. This fight isn't over until we take them all out. Now get to it."

Relieved for the orders the crew rushed to obey. In a very short space of time the remaining harvester ships were destroyed. They had appeared remarkably clumsy. Lacking the coordination they usually possessed. Perhaps the loss of their flagship had destabilised them.

Meanwhile the fleet commander sat and brooded. Although he wasn't sure how he was certain that that strange man, Tam had had something to do with the destruction of the Harvester ship. In a way the whole idea was preposterous. But if someone had told him he had seen someone take down a score of harvester machines with only a sword he would have called that preposterous. But he had seen it with his own eyes.

The commander sighed deeply. Melanos was safe for the moment now. But it was not due to his people. No it was due to two strangers that they had only just met. Who had apparently given their lives for a planet they had never even seen.

Reaching over the commander picked up the data pad that Tam had left behind. He would take this back to Melanos. He would ensure that the fleet was rebuilt using the knowledge that man had given them. And he would also ensure that this story however fantastic it was became known. Because Melanos had a debt to pay now. And if it could not pay it to the man it could at least pay it to his people.

Briefly the commander wondered if somehow Tam had survived the blast, then he dismissed the notion. No nothing human could have survived that.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

But Tam was no longer merely human. At the same time that he unleashed the blast that destroyed the Harvester ship he had reached out again. He had been weak then, at the end of his strength. Almost all his power and his concentration were focused on directing the force he had summoned. But the one he wished to contact was not far away so very little effort was required.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the engineering room of the Nirvana for the second time that day Parfait looked up in shock. Once again the energy from the Plexis was fluctuating. But this time it was doing more than merely fluctuating. All power to the rest of the ship was abruptly cut off.

"Parfait what's going on? Powers down all over the ship!"

"I know. It's the Plexis it's diverting all of its power."

"It's what! What's it doing with it?"

"I don't know it looks like its." The words suddenly died in her throat. "Oh great Grandma."

"What! What is it doing?"

"It's pulsing, like when it dropped us here or when Tam appeared on board."

………………………………………………………………………………………

Seconds later the pulses of the Plexis reached a crescendo and the gathered power was released in a massive discharge.

Moments latter the bridge crew would detect an object appear so close as to literally be on top of the Nirvana.

The shape of two battered Vanguards, Locked together. One so burned and battered as to be hardly recognisable.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

**End of Chapter**

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Well that was a long time in coming.

I wish to apologise to everyone who was waiting for this chapter. You have had to wait a long time. Much longer than I would have liked.

The problem was that whenever I found the time to sit down and write I just found that for whatever reason it wasn't working. I didn't feel what I was writing was up to the standard I wanted for this chapter. So I kept waiting until I felt more inspired.

I hope you feel it was worth the wait.

To answer a question from mannyaf1. How old is Tam? Lets just say that he is far older than he looks. The Empires Civil was only the first war he fought in.

As for him moving up in ranks. Progression in the navy was very slow prior to the war. After the Khrishnaar campaign, well let's just say that his official rank no longer really meant much. But that is something that will be revealed later on.

I apologise for the cliffhanger. Bear in mind I intended to leave on an even worse one but thought that would be better kept for the next chapter.

Expect the next chapter sooner than it took me to write this one. That I feel I can fairly safely promise.


End file.
